Contact: Phil Hearn
A team of six Mississippi State engineering students is the winner of a regional competition to design and construct a robot capable of maneuvering and performing specific tasks in a maze.
All seniors, the university team recently battled from behind to take first place ahead of 25 other groups at the annual Region 3 SeCon Hardware Design challenge. MSU also placed third in software design at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers-sponsored event.
Team members included Mandy Baker of Russellville, Ala., Joe Boettcher of Belden, Kristen Bradley of Moss Point, Philip Conley of Meadville, Justin Rucker of Columbus, and Jason Wilson of Pascagoula. All are electrical engineering majors but Boettcher, who is majoring in computer engineering.
Student branch counselor Nick Younan, a professor in the department, and robot hardware team adviser James Fowler, an associate professor, accompanied the students to the Ocho Rios, Jamaica, event.
Groups from Virginia Commonwealth and Tennessee Tech universities finished behind their MSU counterparts.
"This is a win for engineering at MSU," said Jim Harden, interim head of the electrical and computer engineering department. In addition to completing the maze, points are awarded on the basis of a robot's performance of assigned tasks and time of completion, he explained.
The Jamaica meeting also included presentation of faculty research reports, executive meetings and a student conference.
The IEEE has more than 377,000 members spread among more than 150 countries. The organization's Region 3 includes the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, parts of Indiana and Illinois, and the island nation where this year's program was held.of Jamaica.