Student-created robot rolls over university competition

Pellissippi State’s robot rolled over cans, bottles and some big-name competition as well.

The Pellissippi State Robotics Team recently participated in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. SoutheastCon 2009 Student Hardware Competition. The competition was hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where the student team’s robot picked up bottles and cans—and 11th place among a roster of 44 teams.

The team of five students from Pellissippi State, one of only three community colleges competing, beat out teams from some highly respected four-year schools, among them Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, The Citadel and Clemson University.



And the team representing the College in the recent IEEE SoutheastCon 2009 Student Hardware Competition is … second from left to right, Jake Storey, Rick Gonyea (chair of the Pellissippi State IEEE chapter), Aaron Kesterson, Daniel Foster and Quoc Viet. Also pictured, Ken Swayne (far left), EET program coordinator, and Carl Mallette (far right), Pellissippi State IEEE chapter faculty advisor.

Ken Swayne, Electrical Engineering Technology program coordinator, accompanied students Daniel Foster, Rick Gonyea, Aaron Kesterson, Jake Storey and Quoc Viet.

Each participating school was given the same assignment: Build a recycling robot that can pick up bottles and cans and sort them accordingly. The Pellissippi State team began designing the 12-by-12-by-18-inch robot last fall.

“Parts were supposed to be recycled as much as possible,” said Carl Mallette, the College’s IEEE club advisor. “The robot runs on a computer program that the students wrote.”

“At the beginning of fall semester, we started brainstorming at meetings,” said Gonyea, an older student who has worked on electrical and computer systems for the military and is the chair of Pellissippi State’s student IEEE chapter. IEEE is the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

When it comes to robotics, Pellissippi State’s team has come a long way in a short time, both in competition and in the classroom.

The student team took part in its first SoutheastCon competition in 2007 and has placed in the top 25 percent all three years.

“Four years ago, there was no robotics in EET at Pellissippi State at all. Now we’re starting to integrate classes that contain robotics within the program,” Mallette said.

“Many assembly lines in industry incorporate robotics,” Swayne said. “We have a course pending for 2010 called Robotics and Automation. This coming fall we will offer ‘dual enrollment’ classes that will introduce high school students to electrical engineering technology and some basic robotics concepts.” Dual enrollment allows high school students to take Pellissippi State classes and receive both high school and college credit.

Swayne says the job market for technicians is very good.

“In fact, we can’t produce enough technicians to meet the demand,” he said.

For more information on robotics or the Engineering Technology program, contact Ken Swayne at 694-6496 or keswayne@pstcc.edu.