Racing robots at engineering design show

Programming Lego robots to have a sense of direction has been the task for a class of University of Waikato software engineering students.

“Each robot must be designed so that it can ‘sense’ its way around a given track at the fastest speed possible,” says University of Waikato engineering tutor Alista Fow.

“What defines a successful robot largely comes down to how the team has programmed the software to work with the hardware, plus we’ve also seen a lot of experimentation with the number and placement of the sensors.”

The robot race was a part of the Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper Engineering Design Show in October.

During the two-day event, second, third and fourth- year Engineering students showcased their research and design projects in the forms of posters, displays and seminars.

From left: University of Waikato Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) students Jeff Mo, Sheena Mira-ato, Brad Hansen, Ryan Jones and Peter Oomen with the Lego robots they will race at the upcoming Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper Engineering Design Show.