'Derbots' Match Electronic Wits At University
5 December 2011
Tim Wilmshurst, University Head of Subject for Electronics and Sound (centre, holding mike) directs the previous Derbot Challenge.
Derbots navigate through a timed obstacle course.
Metal competitors will pit their engineered brains and brawn against each other at the University of Derby's 'Derbot Challenge'.
Derbots are mini robots guided by an electronic brain made up of microcontrollers, a component which also enables many of our consumer electronic products to 'think'. They will be competing to get around an obstacle course time trial in Auditorium Four of the University's Markeaton Street site in Derby, from 11.30am tomorrow (Tuesday December 6).
A dozen teams, made up of 36 students from Derby Electronics and Engineering degree courses, will be taking part. There will be an international feel to the event as the students are drawn from six countries including Nigeria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Poland, Pakistan and the UK.
Tim Wilmshurst, University Head of Subject for Electronics and Sound, came up with the original Derbot design and has even published textbooks on how to build them.
Students begin with the same basic model but add modifications, such as light and sound sensors. The Derbots trace a route laid out for them, having to avoid or move objects, or locate a light source along the way, with points given for speed and accuracy.
Tim said: "The students love the Derbot Challenges we run but they have a serious point.
"Not only are technical skills tested but also their ability to work as part of a project team, often across international borders, which is not uncommon in the electronics and engineering sectors."
For more information about the University Electrical and Electronic Engineering courses underpinning the Derbot Challenge see website www.derby.ac.uk/technology/eee
For further information please contact Press and PR Officer Sean Kirby on 01332 591891 or 07876 476103, or email
s.kirby@derby.ac.uk.
