April 22, 2008

• Students designed, built and programmed robot for credit

• Infrared direction-finding beams guide robot

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering Robotics Team placed first among 20 entries in the SoutheastCon 2008 Region 3 Hardware Contest held recently in Huntsville. The conference is the Southeastern region event for IEEE*, a group for electronics and electrical professionals.  

The UAB team beat a Mississippi State University team in the finals to claim the top prize for the region.

Students programmed the robot, a battery-powered vehicle they named BEPR, to pick up 2-inch cubed wooden blocks on a course with the help of infrared direction-finding beams. Maximum size of the robot is 10 by 10 by 11 inches when in motion, and the course is a 6-by-6- foot plywood deck.

The students worked more than six months across two semesters (six credit hours) to complete the undergraduate project, named BEPR as an acronym of the team members' last names.

Gregg Vaughn, Ph.D., chair of the UAB Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and fellow departmental faculty member David G. Green are the group's advisers. Team members, all seniors in electrical engineering, are Matthew Ridley of Enterprise, David Bell of Alabaster, Brandon Pickle of Brookside and Tasha Embry of Pell City.

In addition, UAB's Software Contest team placed sixth out of 18 teams at the conference.

*IEEE, a non-profit organization, describes itself as the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology. Originally named as an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. Today, the organization's scope of interest has expanded into so many related fields, that it is referred to by the letters I-E-E-E (pronounced Eye-triple-E).