The Student Union was filled with the sounds of screeching metal on Friday as UB Engineering Week neared a close with its most popular event, Bot Wars.
Nearly 200 students watched throughout the afternoon as robots built by six different clubs competed against each other in a battle arena set up in the lobby of the Student Union. The radio-controlled robots fought in four-minute duels until the destruction of their opponents.
Last year's defending champions, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), claimed first place again with their robot named "Punisher," despite a valiant effort by the UB Robotics Club who came in second.
Similar to the now-defunct cable TV show "Battlebots," Bot Wars is an annual Engineering Week event where student-built robots fight to inflict as much damage upon each other as possible. The event was judged by research scientists who were previously employed by Calspan, a Buffalo-based engineering company.
"It's extremely fun, everyone destroyed everybody. Some got destroyed in twenty seconds, others went the whole round," said Student Association Engineering Council coordinator Chris Drucker. "There were some close rounds. The semi-finals and the championship round were the best."
Drucker has been planning engineering week events since taking office in October and has been pleased with the success of the week.
"Everyone has loved the events," Drucker said.
The battle arena was constructed Thursday night, and served as an obstacle course for the bots. Galvanized steel nails along the edges of the ring were placed to impede the movement of the robots. Adding to the excitement this year was a new rule that allowed each team a restart during a match so they could reset their robot.
Judging was based on technical details such as aggression, damage assessed, and strategy, but audience enthusiasm played a factor. Awards were given out for creativity, and contributed to determining the winning club for Engineering Week.
Teams spent hundreds of collective man-hours in preparation for the event. Many of the robots that competed this year were modified from last year's models, such as "Scary Gary" designed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Club, which took third place in this year's competition.
"This is the third incarnation of the same robot. The first year we did it, we put about 80 man-hours and every year since, 30 hours each," said Jeremy Marschke, a senior engineering major.
Each team had budget and specification limitations to construct their robots, with a maximum of $450. Donations were accepted and some teams with limited budgets found themselves needing more creative in their design process.
"We have salvaged a lot of parts, we were able to salvage a circuit from UB Robotics, and we have gotten some things from ASME," said Guy Tuori, a member of the Society of Women Engineers.
Bot Wars was not limited to engineering clubs alone, the Society of Physics Students (SPS) also participated in the event.
"Physics guides the principles and leads the way for the technologies and theories involved in every single robot in this competition," said James McMillan, a senior SPS member.
According to McMillan, SPS wanted to show that physics is more than just theory and it could have practical applications as well.
"It's another way we can take away from what we learn in school," McMillian said. "It's about applying engineering knowledge with practical use, and it's nice because it's something else that we work on with our hands."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
