UF’s Intelligent Machines Design Laboratory students demonstrated their final projects at Monday’s Robot Demo Day at the Engineering Building, showing how college students with modest budgets can breathe life into metal and circuitry.
“They don’t realize they’re learning because they’re having so much fun,” said Eric Schwartz, associate director of the Machine Intelligence Laboratory.
Building a robot is no simple task, especially not the self-controlled robots the course demands.
For third-year computer science major Canek Acosta, the freedom was both humbling and enlightening. He originally designed his robot, Arturito—a Spanish pun on “Star Wars’” R2D2—to play beer pong, but his launcher couldn’t sink the shots.
“I was a little arrogant,” he said, “but I went with my personal launcher because I wanted to learn something.”
Engineering student Christian Davis said students learned more than just robotics in the course. He said students learned to achieve long-term goals on a budget. After he graduates this semester, Davis said he will join Lockheed Martin’s Missile and Fire Control division in Orlando.
