By Amanda Taylor

The UTRGV Robotics team ranked first among all Texas university teams, during the annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region Five Robotics Competition, held April 7 in Austin.

Of 31 teams competing, UTRGV placed fourth overall, going up against high-profile universities like Louisiana State University, UT Austin, UT Tyler and the University of Houston.

UTRGV Robotics Team members are:

• Joshua Acosta, of Edinburg, computer engineering major.
• Samuel Roberts, of Brownsville, electrical engineering major.
• Salvador Garza, of Edinburg, electrical engineering major.

All team members are seniors slated for graduation in May.

“We created the robot for our senior design project, so that was mandatory,” Roberts said. “But entering into the competition is was what we chose to do as a team.”

Their statewide and regional success marks the first recognition for a UTRGV Robotics team. 

IEEE rules say the robot must be designed to solve a problem. UTRGV’s is an autonomous robot that takes to a playing field to complete set tasks.

The tasks set for the UTRGV robot were to pick up colored tokens at designated points across the playing board, identify the color of the token, and drop collected colored tokens into a matching colored square along the edges of the board.

“The robot stores the tokens within itself, which was a little different from other designs we saw at the competition,” Acosta said. “Most of the other designs would pick up each individual token and take it to the matching square, instead of collecting them all at once.”

The goal of this IEEE competition was to provide a challenge that combines readily understood tasks with simple requirements that steadily increase in complexity in three separate rounds. The project was designed to teach students flexibility in crafting solutions and using creative resources.

“Obviously, there wouldn’t be a practical purpose for a robot to pick up and distribute colored tokens, but it’s more about the principles behind the robotics,” Roberts said. “You could use a robot like this to arrange stock in a warehouse, or autonomously solve a problem and make decisions.”

The team started its project in September 2017, providing reports and presentations for class grades along the way. Built of infrared sensors, color-filtered photo diodes and electromagnets, the robot navigated the playing board by using a control system. Extra elements, such as the sorting mechanism within the robot, sparked from the team’s creativity and garnered attention during competition.
 
“Their design was unique in the way they built the lifting mechanism, and the tray system that collected the tokens,” said Dr. Mounir Ben Ghalia, professor of Electrical Engineering and undergraduate program coordinator for the UTRGV Department of Electrical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Faculty and students were coming up to take pictures of it; everyone was very impressed.”

Fueled by their close placement to third, the team hopes to inspire incoming students and has plans to help other UTRGV robotics teams before graduation.

“We’re proud of placing fourth regionally, and we lead all of the Texas teams,” Roberts said. “We learned a lot and enjoyed it. Now it’s up to the next class to get first place and continue where we left off.”

ABOUT IEEE
IEEE, an association dedicated to advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity, is the world's largest technical professional society. It is designed to serve professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic and computing fields and related areas of science and technology that underlie modern civilization.

IEEE's roots go back to 1884 when electricity began to become a major influence in society. There was one major established electrical industry, the telegraph, which since the 1840s had come to connect the world with a data communications system faster than the speed of transportation. The telephone and electric power and light industries had just gotten underway.

GALLERY

UTRGV Robotics team

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