The AURA Electronics Research Team (ERT) competed in their first RoboNZ competition at the offices of NextWindow Ltd. today on Saturday 24 of November 2012. This competition is a continuation of our expansion of our competitive focus, having also competed at the National Instruments Autonomous Robotics Competition. A reasonably small competition with some very dedicated competitors, it focuses on desiging and creating ‘the whole package’, from low-level programming and electronics to higher-level mechanical design. The main goal of each challenge is simple: knock all the cans off the table in the fastest time without falling off. The AURA entry used VEX parts for the structure, wheels, and motion, SMC pneumatics, Infrared Sensors from VEX and Sharp, and an Arduino processor.
Results include winning the circle table challenge, with 14 cans knocked off across three trials, and winning overally with 34 cans knocked off across the competition as a whole. However, this competition isn’t specifically about winning – everyone will refine their designs over the next couple of months in preparation for the next round in mid-2013, continuing to improve their robots and try new ideas. Thank you very much to NextWindow Ltd. for hosting, and to the RoboNZ team for running the competition!