Student's robots take on urban challenge at Lawrence Tech today

metromode, 12/11/2008

The next generation of smart-car scientists will put their latest innovations on display at Lawrence Technological University tonight for the school's mini urban challenge.

Autonomous robots created by advanced high school and college students will navigate an obstacle course starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Buell Management Building on the university's Southfield campus.

The robots are built from the L2Bot platform that was developed at Lawrence Tech. It's part of an intelligent robotics project that is similar to the smart-car technology state and auto manufacturers are currently developing.

Each robot uses an onboard camera as a sensor for a vision guidance software system. This allows the robot to navigate a course made to simulate urban roads with a tunnel. A video of last year's competition can be found here.

The teams represent Romeo Engineering & Technology Center, Cranbrook Schools, a home school group from Bloomfield Township, Berean Academy from Rochester Hills and Lawrence Tech computer science students.

The event will also feature a demonstration of H2Bot, the world's first fuel-cell-powered autonomous robot.

For information, click here or send an email to robofest@ltu.edu or call (248) 204-3569.

Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke