It is often imagined that robots will dominate the future of America. If the people behind the creation of the robots are anything like the UB Robotics club, then the future is in good hands.
The club began under temporary status in 1998 and earned official club status in 2001. The club has had a steady increase in membership since then, and now boasts over 20 members.
"[The club] is a group of undergraduates successfully competing against research labs," said Dominic Baratta, the club's president and a senior computer science major. "It's a nice challenge to be able to work on outside of class."
Where many clubs affiliated with academic majors don't give students hands-on experience for their future careers, UB Robotics differs. Many undergraduate students choose to join the club because they have the ability to apply what they've learned in their engineering courses.
"It caught my attention more than the other clubs because it's so related to the actual field of engineering," said Brett Bowman, club treasurer and a junior electrical engineering major. "It's probably one of the most interesting…closer to real-life working scenarios."
Each year, the club participates in competitions where its robotic building talents are flaunted. Three years ago, they built Big Blue, a semi-autonomus robot – something that almost runs on its own, according to Bowman. The club divides into three specialized groups through members interested in mechanical, electrical, and software inventions. Each group contributes a significant amount to the progression of the latest bot.
The club strives for improvement so it can be a major competitor at competitions. One of the competitions that the club is focusing on this year is the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC), which will take place the first weekend in June in Rochester, MI. The club has been competing in this competition for the past three years. IGVC features over 3,000 robots from all over the world. While many of the robots submitted are from teams composed of Masters and Ph.D. students from research labs, UB Robotics is composed of undergraduate students, and they hold their own weight against the heated competition.
"Most recently in the IGCV competition, there [was] about 50 to 60 teams," Bowman said. "We usually place within the top 20 and only half the teams usually qualify. We do fairly decent for the manpower that we have, [compared to] the other teams."
The club's robot was able to travel 60 feet without going outside of white lines or colliding with an obstacle.
Everything the club does is a steppingstone toward the IGVC, which is the most exciting part of being in the club, according to Baratta. The mechanical, electrical, and software groups work on small assignments that will all be put together in the end. Their individual projects are analyzed so that the members of the club figure out what their ultimate goal is, how long it took them to create a robot, and how successful their past competitions have been.
When the club is not working toward IGVC or other robotics projects, they host open houses and outreach programs. Members have gone to high schools and spoken in classrooms, hoping to stir up interests in younger minds.
Although many of the club's members do stem from an engineering background, UB Robotics Club is open to all majors. One student majoring in communication helped represent the club, while an art student worked on creating the club logo. Each one brings a unique element to the table.
Members also come from all levels of experiences and preferences. Some members work on their own projects throughout the semester, while others work in groups. However, the members are always willing to help one another out with construction or ideas. If a student is dedicated to learning all of the material necessary to compete, the club members will teach him or her all that is needed to create robots.
"Even members who are already into science-related majors will find a lot of new stuff in this club," said Christian Nugent, the club's vice president and a senior electrical engineering major.
On Nov. 19, UB Robotics will be going to the Buffalo Science Museum for a Robotics program. The program will exhibit the club's work to date.
The club meets every Friday at 5 p.m. in Furnas 206 and encourages anyone interested to come.
Email: features@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Jorge Zhang and Mohamed Ali Larbi Daho Bachir.
