In this competition, 60 second-year students in UBC Engineering Physics will go head-to-head with their autonomous block-stacking robots. The ENPH 253 course is named introduction to instrument design, practical laboratory exposure to instrument bread-boarding including simple mechanical and electrical design, and communications with sensors and actuators.

Each year students spend six weeks in a series of labs and lectures to learn some basic elements of electromechanical design, and then form teams of four to embark on seven weeks of full-time robot design and construction. Time commitment during this phase is at the students’ discretion but often reaches 50 – 70 hrs/week. The course culminates in a publicly attended robot competition that also serves as the final exam. Past competitions have included one-on-one hockey, volleyball, and search and rescue challenges.

For more information, please visit: http://www.engphys.ubc.ca/2012/build-bots-engphys-robot-competition-thurs-aug-2nd-2012/