Robots, SUV face off at St. John Arena

Students in the College of Engineering will showcase their robot creations and their FutureTruck hybrid vehicle in separate events on Thursday (5/27) at St. John Arena, 410 Woody Hayes Dr.

In one event, teams of first-year engineering students will go head-to-head in a competition featuring autonomous robots created to safely lift and deposit a variety of items in an automated steel plant. The event is at 3:30 p.m. The robots must find their way around a specially-built course – 12 feet wide by 12 feet long – that simulates a fully-automated steel plant in which the assisting robot must perform a variety of tasks, including retrieving raw coal, moving steel ingots to the rolling machine and depositing finished ingots to the shipping area. Robots will have a time limit to complete all tasks.

At the other event, the Ohio State team of engineering students participating in this year’s FutureTruck challenge will host a “FutureTruck Ride and Drive” from 3 to 4 p.m. at the south entrance of St. John Arena. The student team will be available to discuss Ohio State\'s entry into the national FutureTruck competition, which will be held in June in Detroit. The team is using a charge-sustaining parallel hybrid vehicle to compete in the competition. FutureTruck is a multi-year competition in which 15 universities from across the country received Ford Explorer SUVs and were challenged to make the vehicles more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly without losing any vehicle power or comfort.

WHAT: Students in the College of Engineering will showcase their robot creations that safely lift and deposit items as well as their FutureTruck hybrid vehicle in separate events

WHEN: Robot competition: 3:30 p.m. on Thursday (5/27)
“FutureTruck Ride and Drive”: 3 to 4 p.m. on Thursday (5/27)

WHERE: St. John Arena, 410 Woody Hayes Dr.