William Funkhouser Wins Big at National Robotics Competition

2013 Dec 18

William Funkhouser, of Downingtown, Pa., studying electronics and control systems at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, attended the 2013 Association of Technology, Management, & Applied Engineering (ATMAE) Conference on Nov. 20-23 with the ATMAE Student Chapter (aka the Millersville Robotics Team). The Millersville Robotics Team competed against seven other teams and won first place for Performance, Technical Poster, and Technical Report with their robot SAMSON, which is an acronym for "Semi-autonomous Marauder with Sensor Optimized Navigation." The team also won the Overall Robotics Competition and brought home their second Robotics Cup, the first of which was won in 2010.

"We rejoiced," said Joel Wells, a senior applied engineering major with a concentration in robotics and control systems. "Our hard work really paid off in the end."

With the theme of the competition being "Robo-Hoops," the ATMAE students built a robot that would be able to pick up 36 ping pong balls of various colors, sort the balls by color and then shoot the balls into the appropriate hoops within five minutes. The competition was semi-autonomous in nature where part of the tasks requirement autonomous control and other part allowed tele-operation via remote control. The teams were given an overall score based on the technical report, technical poster, performance, electronics/controls and manufacturing/design of the robot.

"We have a very well-rounded team with the right chemistry of talent and team dynamics," said Dr. John Wright, Professor of Automation and Electronics Technologies and Advisor of Millersville's ATMAE Chapter. "We also need to have good resources. Our robot cost about $8,000 to build."

In addition, Wright received the Charles W. Keith Award for the contributions he has made to the field of technology and engineering.

"I was really surprised to earn this prestigious award," Wright said. "It is the highest honor that ATMAE awards. It was created in 1986 and only eight recipients have earned this award since then. I am very excited and proud to be on this short list."

These three recent wins means that the chapter has won 28 awards since they first started competing in 2001.

Millersville University of Pennsylvania is a top-ranked, public university located in the northeast region of the United States. It is committed to offering students a high quality, comprehensive university experience of exceptional value. Dedicated to providing nationally recognized programs that embrace the liberal arts, Millersville offers academic opportunities that are supported by outstanding faculty who are accomplished scholars and practitioners. Founded in 1855 as the first Normal School in Pennsylvania, Millersville University is one of 14 universities within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.