This page is archived material from a previous course. Please check for updated material.

2009 Competition

This year’s competition – Rescue-Bots 2009!




Date/Time:   Thursday, July 30st, 2008 10am –12noon.

Place:   Hennings Bldg., Rm. 200, 6224 Agricultural Road, UBC.




---

Fifteen teams of UBC engineering students will pit prototype rescue-robots against each other for prizes and bragging rights in the 9th UBC Engineering Physics Robot Competition.

UBC Engineering Physics students have been challenged to invent and built robots that will rescue a hiker which has fallen off a cliff.  The fallen hiker (in reality a 9inch tall doll), is lying down at the bottom of a 1foot cliff and is trapped under a large tree.  In order to get to the fallen hiker, the robots must travel across a winding road, up a ramp and track invisible infrared light, while avoiding rocks and other trees, then use a team-designed “rescue arm” to move the large tree and rescue the fallen hiker.

All of these actions are done through programming, and without any remote control from the students.  In addition, every component on their robots – every piece of electronics and mechanical structure – has been designed built and tested by the student groups.

The competition is the final exam of a 13-week course in practical engineering design, similar to courses offered at MIT, Stanford and other engineering schools.  Students learn the basics of electronics and mechanical design using innovative fabrication techniques, then spend the last six weeks applying the knowledge to construct autonomous robots.




---

Download the most recent rules here:

• phys253-2009-competition-rules-v3 Updated 2009 June 15; updates include:
  • change to height of cliff (2″ instead of 3″)
  • resetting the course during a restart
  • fallen trees on the course during the semi-finals and final rounds








Video from the 2004 edition of Rescue-Bots:

Rescue-Bots! UBC Engineering Physics – Phys 253, 2004 from Jon Nakane on Vimeo.