Boise State University engineering students create robots, hold contest

Bronco and Mr. Roboto faced off Dec. 7 in the center of a blue circle set up in a classroom at the Micron Engineering Center at Boise State University. Two students let go of the robots, which began pushing each other. After a few seconds, Mr. Roboto pushed Bronco out of the ring.
A few simple design features helped Partial Credit best its opponents, [Ryan Cowgill] said. He and [Tyler Brown] built a wedge on the front of the robot to get up underneath the other robots. They painted the wedge white to trick the other robots into thinking the wedge was the white stripe around the playing field, so the robots automatically moved away from Partial Credit, making it easier for their robot to push the others out of the ring.
The engineering exercise was fun as well as a good learning experience for Cowgill and Brown, both of whom work in engineering fields. Cowgill is an engineering design intern at Adaptive Technologies in Nampa, and said he'd like to keep working there when he graduates. Brown works in BSU's biomechanics lab.

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