(Bluefield)—For the fourth consecutive year, a team of Bluefield State College engineering technology students and the vehicle they designed, built, and programmed has performed exceedingly well at the 14 th Intelligent Ground (Robotic) Vehicle Competition (IGVC) at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, MI. After winning four world titles in the IGVC over the past three years, this year’s BSC/CART entrant finished fifth overall in a field that originally included 41 entries.
The BSC student team and its autonomous vehicle finished ahead of teams from engineering programs (some of which were master’s programs) at institutions that included the University of Florida, the University of Michigan, the University of Colorado, Georgia Tech, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Massachusetts. By category the BSC/CART team won a fifth place award in “Design,” as well as sixth place honors in the categories of “Autonomy” and “Navigation.”
“Anassa II,” the BSC autonomous robot, processes its environment, utilizing a variety of technologies, providing information needed for the vehicle to react appropriately. Dr. Bob Riggins, BSC team faculty advisor, noted, “Our student team made a concerted effort to develop and integrate technologies that concentrate on core elements—vision and laser measurement sensors.”
BSC students Heather Williams, Mark Myers, Lenny Lewis, Jessica Brown, and Jesse Farmer invested hundreds of hours in developing Anassa. “The team really worked together well,” Riggins added. “They worked on this vehicle and on ‘Scorpion-fox,’ a vehicle seeking to qualify for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Grand Challenge, for several months. Their focus, persistence, and desire to excel have been outstanding.”
Bruce Mutter, Director of the Center for Applied Research & Technology (CART) at BSC, also praised the College’s effort. “We were from the smallest college in the competition, a fact that makes our accomplishments even more impressive,” Mutter stated. “Our students and faculty incorporated the lessons learned from prior competitions, and they ranked higher than many very large universities’ teams. CART is pleased to have provided support this year for the effort, underwriting students’ dedicated research, Joint Autonomous Unmanned Systems software development kit, travel support, and funding for faculty research presentations related to the project.”
July 13, 2006
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