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On December 13-a day when most of students across campus were quietly studying for finals-a group of 200 students gathered to celebrate and learn at the sixth annual Robot Show.
The Robot Show is the culmination of Introduction to Engineering, a required course for mechanical engineering students at the University of Minnesota. For the course's final project, Professor Will Durfee challenged his students to design and build a robot that would do "something interesting."
Students showcased their robots at the McNamara Alumni Center, where the hum of tiny motors and laughter of excited students filled the room. Visiting professionals, parents, and professors buzzed as they strolled past displays.
Professor Durfee's course was designed to prepare students for daily work in an engineering field. "Mechanical engineers are continually designing and synthesizing," said Durfee. "And while supporting information can be found in books, the answers to real-world problems are never in the back of the book."
For this real-world challenge, students each received a small computer, two motors, and a handful of electronics. Their robots were required to spring to action at the push of a "start" button, and-in keeping with the realities of the engineering field-the robots had to be constructed on a small budget.
Allana Hebner-a mechanical engineering major in the class of 2006-found the project both "amazing" and challenging. "In seeing your design through to the final stages, there are a lot of things you put down on paper that don't work out in real life," she said.
Hebner's final product was a bright pink cake-cutting robot. She arrived at the show with a box full of twelve iced cakes, prepared to demonstrate her robot and share snacks with admirers.
Some robots-like a plant-watering machine, toilet-paper dispenser, automated wine corker, and Hebner's cake cutter-were tools designed to accomplish a specific task. Other robots were more whimsical in nature, such as a "Smelly Spin Art" machine, a marshmallow roaster, and a bubble blower.
"Mechanical engineering is a lot of fun, and you'll know right away if it's your kind of fun or not," said Lindsey Yue, creator of the "Kitty Bubble Blower," a machine that produced bubbles at the push of a button.
Yue is a mechanical engineering major and Asian languages and literatures minor in the class of 2007. "If you like puzzles, world problems, and gadgetry, then this is a good major for you," she said.
Dao Yang, also a mechanical engineering major in the class of 2007, created "The Dealer," a device that deals a deck of cards to two players. "[The Robot Show] made me realize that I can do something I didn't think I could do at first," said Yang.
And while Yang and many of his classmates had to make minor adjustments to their robots throughout the show, observers were treated to more than 200 fully functioning robots. Just in case, however, "Robot Paramedics" were available in the Robot Hospital, a somber room stocked with extra pulleys and widgets.
Professor Durfee was thrilled with the performance of his students and their robots. "I think all the projects were great," he said, "because in every project, the student has stretched himself or herself to create a design that nobody else has ever done before."
For more information about the mechanical engineering program or other Institute of Technology majors, visit the Institute of Technology. You may also contact Jeanette Leland, the Institute of Technology freshman admissions counselor, by phone at 612-625-2008 or 800-752-1000, or by email at lela0012@umn.edu.
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