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Three Teams Prevail at Annual Design Competition



Sixteen autonomous robots went head-to-head Saturday, May 22, at the 19th Annual Undergraduate Design Competition at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.

The winners were:
- 1st place: The K Team — Greg McGlynn, Dan Cornew, Garrett Grocke, Phil Goins
- 2nd place: Personality — Marcel Flores, Thomas Peterson, Katy Powers, Nikola Borisov
- 3rd place: Hax! — Daniel Myers, Kenny Tay, Neal Ehardt
- Myke Minbiole Elegant Engineering Award: The K Team — Greg McGlynn, Dan Cornew, Garrett Grocke, Phil Goins

Teams of Northwestern undergraduates representing a variety of engineering fields spent six months designing, building and programming their robots to operate autonomously. Robots are made up of various parts, including microprocessors, actuators, motors, gears and electronic sensors. Remote control is not permitted, though teams may reprogram robots as often as desired.



This year robots competed head-to-head, each one trying to collect metal tokens and wooden tokens distributed along snaking curves painted on an eight-foot-square arena. The robots started on different curves, but the curves intersected at 16 locations, so collisions were possible. Robots able to track faster, collect tokens better and survive collisions without becoming disoriented had the advantage. After two-minute bouts, the team with the most points advanced.



For more photos and videos, visit: http://sites.google.com/site/dcnuinfo/dc-history