Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A compact robot designed and built by a Mississippi State team is this year's winner in student competition sponsored by the National Association of Industrial Technology.
All members of the campus NAIT chapter, the 10-person group was among 11 university teams from around the United States involved in the challenge. The event was part of the association's 2008 convention held recently in Nashville, Tenn.
"Each school's entry was graded in the categories of performance, construction and presentation," said Mickey Giordano, one of the MSU team's three faculty advisers.
In the performance section, all 11 robots were in a double-elimination bracket. With five racquetballs placed in a taped-off square at the center of the 24-by-24-foot arena, the goal was to pick up and deliver a ball to one of the two target boxes. Each ball placed in a box earned a point; any knocked or dropped outside the marked area brought a one-point penalty. The first team with either three points or the most after three minutes was the winner.
"That we were entering the competition for the first time makes this first-place award even more meaningful," added the instructor in the department of instructional technology and workforce development.
In addition to a trophy and some high-end computer design software, the MSU team's victory will enable two industrial technology majors to spend a week Dayton, Ohio, receiving specialized robotics and automation training at Rixan Associates Inc.
"The Rixan training normally costs nearly $1,200 per person," Giordano said, adding that NAIT also is providing each student with a $750 travel stipend.
Other chapter advisers accompanying the team to Nashville were assistant professor John E. Wyatt and instructor Jerry Mize.
Winning MSU team members include (by hometown):
ACKERMAN--Senior Brandon R. Peninger, the son of Gary Peninger and Jerry Jackson and an industrial technology/manufacturing and maintenance major. [Ed. Note: Jerry is the correct spelling of Mrs. Jackson's first name.]
BRANDON--Senior John David Thomas, the son of David and Oleta Thomas and an industrial technology major with a double specialization in automation and manufacturing and maintenance.
COLUMBUS--Senior David M. Jones, the son of Columbus and Marie Jones and an industrial technology/manufacturing and maintenance major.
CORINTH--Senior industrial technology major Brenton D. Mathews, the son of Paul and Deborah Mathews.
JACKSON--Heshium R. Lawrence, a doctoral candidate in instructional systems and workforce development. He and faculty adviser John Wyatt also presented a research paper at the convention. (Parents' names not given but his residential ZIP code is 39206.)
MERIDIAN--Senior Micheal W. Miller, the son of Micheal and Jan Miller and an industrial technology/manufacturing and maintenance major. In a separate industrial technology knowledge quiz held apart from the robot competition, Miller finished fourth in a field of nearly 70 students. [Ed. note: Micheal is the correct spelling of the son and father's first name.]
MOSS POINT--Junior industrial technology major Cory A. Greenough, the son of Al and Vickie Greenough.
VERNON, Ala.--Sophomore industrial technology major Jonathan W. Mosley, the son of Wayne and Mary Mosley.
VERSAILLES, Ky.--Senior Paul M. Hartsell, the son of Billy and Barbara Hartsell and an industrial technology/manufacturing and maintenance major.
WALNUT--Senior Chris W. Bradford, the son of Debbie Bradford and an industrial technology/automation major.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.