Student designers battle at robot showdown
Teams vie for supremacy at McCormick School’s annual competition

It was a clash of the balloon-popping titans Saturday when teams faced off in the 11th Annual Undergraduate Design Competition (DC 2002).

The event, organized and run by students at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, brought out 33 student design teams and their autonomous robots in a challenge for supremacy, not to mention big cash prizes.

DC 2002, open to all Northwestern undergraduates, required design teams to build a fully autonomous robot to navigate a complex maze — with water traps and channels — in order to pop balloons of varying point value. Two teams simultaneously charted the course from either end, creating exciting head-to-head match-ups. The robot earning the most points in three minutes won the round and moved through the ranks.

Teams spent the last several months studying the course and designing their robots, using microprocessors, motors, gears, electronic sensors and X-acto blades for popping balloons. Besides a chance for cash, students also received independent-study research project credits for their efforts. In addition, students raised funds to subsidize competition-related expenditures.

This year’s competition attracted a large, enthusiastic crowd of Northwestern students as well as youngsters and their parents. In the end, team Golden Hind took home the first prize of $3,000. Hydropho-bia took second and $1,500, and 12-inch Poker earned third and $750.

Visit http://msgroups.tech.northwestern.edu/dc/ for more information and photos.