Autonomous vehicle navigation is a research area that has recently advanced to the level of self-driving cars. For the last five years, the Union College Robotics Crew has been participating in annual “micromouse” competitions, where robots use autonomous navigation to find their way through a maze. Using sensors, motors, microcontrollers, and mechanical structures, students design and program their robots to navigate through a random maze in a timed race. In the micromouse competition, teams are given 12 minutes for their robot to traverse from the starting point to the center of an approximately 9’ x 9’ maze. Within this time period the robot will complete one “exploring” run where it learns the paths of the maze, and then one or more “speed” runs, where it travels as quickly as possible from start to center. The minimum run time is used as the official time for that robot, and the robot with the shortest official time wins the competition.
Presenters:
Team A: Edward Gebara, David Koval, Pranav Shrestha
Team B: Pyae Sone Aung, Jerry Ji, Anthony Yang, Lam Ngo
Faculty sponsors:
Cherrice Traver, John Spinelli, Shane Cotter, John Rieffel, Nick Webb