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COD Students Compete at 29th Annual UIUC Robotics Competition

For the fourth consecutive year, the College of DuPage Engineering Club was the only team from a two-year school to compete in the Midwestern Robotics Design Competition.

Click here to view photos of a pre-competition demonstration of the robot.

"The students showed incredible poise and teamwork again being the only community college invited to compete," said Engineering Club advisor and COD Engineering Instructor Scott Banjavcic. "They definitely learned a great deal about tackling unforeseen problems and working together in crunch time."

Sponsored in large part by Shamrock International Fasteners, Inc., this year's team included Christopher Childs-Moore, Lisle; Maxwel Chichon, Bloomingdale; Kevin Dever, Elmhurst; Kristopher Gardner, Glendale Heights; Nathan Hinz, Westmont; Jenny Kaeppel, Naperville; Kevin Kirkwood, Wood Dale; Edie Kocher-Cowan, Lisle; Laura Kristie, Westchester; Nemanja Kuzmanovic, Darien; Katharine Lewis, Wheaton; Alexis Miranda, Bloomingdale; Tiffany Montgomery, Lisle; David Samuels, Windfield; Ray Schlosser, West Chicago; Alec Steinkraus, Plainfield; Nicholas Stewart, Bloomingdale; Zuriel Tronco, Glendale Heights; and Devon Weaver, Naperville.

Formerly known as the AMD Jerry Sanders Creative Design Competition, the Midwestern Robotics Design Competition is an annual robotics competition held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where student teams from across the Midwest design and build competitive robots. Each year, a new game objective is created that tests the teams in terms of creative design and robot functionality and promotes new designs and innovation. The goal of the competition is to promote engineering disciplines and provide students a chance to demonstrate their technical abilities and creativity while applying knowledge learned in engineering courses.

In 2015, the team was awarded Best Design at the UIUC sponsored competition and one of only two community colleges invited to participate in the 2015 NASA Robotic Mining Competition held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to Robotics Team Captain and second-year engineering student Edie Kocher-Cowan, the COD team got off to a great start at this year's competition, beating out prestigious universities well-known for the quality of their engineering programs.

"We won the first round against UIUC, the Illinois Institute of Technology and Northern Illinois University," she said. "In the beginning of the second round, the pulleys attached to the axle of our robot slid out and started rubbing against the bearings, which created too much resistance. The resistance drew too many amps, and activated a safety feature in our battery which shut it off."

She said that one of the most valuable things the team learned at the competition was to persistently check their work.

"Whether it is fixing an electrical connection, or tightening a bolt, we learned to check and double-check everything on our robot," she said. "Every time we have encountered problems, it usually was not a major malfunction; it was something that could be fixed within minutes."

Currently finishing her second year of the Engineering Pathways program, Kocher-Cowan said she learned a lot as team captain and through the process of conceptualizing, designing and building ETC 2.

"I did not realize how much communication is involved in the robot-building process," she said. "I always have to be anticipating what needs to be done next in order for the robot to be built. There are many compromises in the decision-making process to make sure everyone is happy and the robot is the best it can be."

While the team used the same robot for the previous three visits to the competition, they decided to build a new robot entirely from scratch for this year. Named ETC 2 (Engineering and Technology Club), the team's robot weighs 120 lbs. and features a 30" by 24" inch base platform and an articulated arm and claw. Able to reach speeds of 15 miles an hour, the robot was controlled by a Tactic TTX610 6-channel secure link technology (SLT) system remote control. The new robot also features an extra strong base-plate constructed from quarter-inch thick 7075 aluminum, an improved arm and a new base-plate design that allows for easier access and quicker repairs.

Kocher-Cowan said she is pleased with her experience at COD and particularly with her time in the Engineering and Technology Club.

"COD has helped me gain a lot of knowledge, but just taking classes doesn't give you hands-on experience," she said. "The Engineering & Technology Club gives students that hands-on experience. In building robots, we use mills, lathes and many other tools, and work with students across a broad range of disciplines which provides experience across the entire spectrum of a design-build project and looks great on a resume."

Engineering and Technology Club Manager Alec Steinkraus said it is his responsibility to help with communication and organization.

"I'm the link between the faculty and the club to make sure we follow and adhere to all school policies," he said. "A large portion of the club is focused on robotics, so I also help make sure that deadlines are being met and progress is being made with the robotic competitions."

Graduating from COD this May with an Associate's in Engineering Science degree, Steinkraus plans to earn his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at UIUC and subsequently work in the computer industry. Steinkraus said he chose to attend College of DuPage based on the Engineering Pathways program.

"The Engineering Pathways program enables me to pursue a prestigious UIUC engineering degree at a fraction the cost of attending UIUC for all four years," he said.

Steinkraus said he is pleased with his experience at COD and is thrilled with the experiences he's gained in the Engineering and Technology Club.

"My experience with the club has been both fun and stressful, but also very valuable," he said. "Like in the workforce, our club has deadlines and goals, as well as guidelines and rules we must adhere to - both from the school and our robotic competitions. We experience all the drama and frustrations of communication and making decisions just like we will in the workforce."

Steinkraus said he and the team are currently keeping busy preparing for the Robotics Team's next opportunity to compete nationally against 49 university-level teams at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition this May.

Click here for more information about the Engineering program at College of DuPage.

Pictured: Front row (left to right): Kristopher Gardner, Laura Kristie, Edie Kocher-Cowan, Tiffany Montgomery. Middle row (left to right): Jenny Kaeppel, Alexis Miranda. Back row (left to right): Engineering Faculty Advisor Scott Banjavcic, Zuriel Tronco, Ray Schlosser, David Samuels, Nemanja Kuzmanovic, Nicholas Stewart, Alec Steinkraus, Christopher Childs-Moore, Devon Weaver, Kevin Kirkwood, Kevin Dever. (Photo Courtesy of COD Engineering and Technology Club).

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