COLUMBUS, Ohio – They’re billing it as a contest to find the “sweetest” robot.
Teams of first-year Ohio State engineering honors students will compete Saturday at French Field House to see which of their robots is the most efficient at candy-making during the College of Engineering’s robot competition.
This event is open to the public from noon to 5:30 p.m. at French Field House, 460 Woody Hayes Drive
The robots will navigate their ways around a 12-by-12-foot course, also built by students, intended to simulate a candy store. The fully autonomous ‘droids have two minutes to adjust the temperature of a candy-making oven, activate a production and packaging line, transport a skid of packaged chocolate to a cooler and deliver a scoop to the “store’s” candy counter.
The competition is the culmination of a semester-long design-and-build project for the students and will determine which team has designed the best robot to meet the specifications.
The robots are limited in size to a 9-inch square footprint and can be constructed of various materials, including sheet metal, PVC, acrylic, plywood and Erector set pieces, according to college spokeswoman Candi Clevenger.