Autonomous robots throw down in the sumo ring

Ars was invited to the end-of-year sumo competition, where the victor was “Taetay.” Shot/Edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

NEW YORK—For the past ten years, professor Brian Cusack has been teaching robot design and construction to science and engineering students at Cooper Union. The mechatronics class is an intense, 14-week immersion in robot design, programming, building, testing process, and competition.

This week, the class kicked off Cooper Union's End of Year Show with a robot "sumo" competition. The goal of the competition involves two autonomous robots (no remote controls) which can sense the edge of a square “ring” using infrared sensors and use programmed motors to push the other robot out of the ring. The lighting is important for the sensors to pick up the white outline of a black ring.

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