Notre Dame Robotics Football Competition

So once again, I’d like to thank you all for supporting this year’s event in every way possible. It wouldn’t have been nearly as successful had you guys not told your friends and showed your support.

Having said that, we’re looking to come back bigger and better next year and would really love to hear feedback from you. Ultimately, our goal is to make this competition an intercollegiate one that involves some of the top engineering programs in America. The bigger the competition becomes, the more awareness and support we will be able to raise for prosthetic research, which is what this whole thing is ultimately about.

So, let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.

Some questions to get your mind moving: What can we do better next time around? What did you really like this year? Do you think an intercollegiate competition would work?

We would like to thank all of the folks who helped us promote the game on the internet!  You helped bring new eyes to the event and to the efforts of the Notre Dame engineering students.

Now I’m sure that those who helped promote the event weren’t encouraged at all by the ND football ticket giveaway, but we still thank you and hope you will help us again next year!

With that said, we would like to Congratulate Jerry Beckett as the winner of the contest thanks to his post on ND Nation!  Thanks again Jerry!

Hopefully we can continue to bring even more exposure to the Notre Dame Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department next year!

Thank everyone so much for participating in the MVR contest this year. We had a tremendous response with over 140 entries! Here’s the breakdown of how everyone voted:

The actual winner of the MVR, would, without a doubt, have to be Knowshon Merobot, who scored an amazing 4 touchdowns in the game. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention this was largely due to the speed and maneuverability of the Gold Team players in general that enabled Knowshon to get free and score.  In last year’s game, it was difficult to drive the robots straight because of the way they were designed.  Both Blue and Gold solved that problem this year, but with two different approaches.  Gold used a differential drive in which two motors drive two separate wheels and turning is accomplished by driving the wheels at different speeds, possibly even in opposite directions.  They essentially solved the problem in software, giving the human using the remote control the ability to easily control direction. Blue used a rack-and-pinion steering approach similar to what is found in cars, where one motor powers a single drive wheel, and a second motor controls turning of two undriven wheels.  This is essentially a mechanical solution to the same problem.  Both solutions worked well, but because Gold has two motors available for propelling the robots forward, they are faster.  Also, they had a near zero turning radius, so they are more maneuverable.

We’ve also decided to award the “Most Innovative Design” award to Dr. StaniKicks, who put on an impressive show when kicking the ball. Kicking was new to the game this year, so the kickers were really developed without the benefit of examining solutions from last year’s robots.  All of the other positions were built last year, and taking apart those robots influenced this year’s new designs for them.  Without any prior examples to consider, the kickers required the most innovation.  Dr. StaniKicks was clearly the better performer of the two kickers, which was a direct result of the engineering analysis that its designers did.  They altered their design in several key ways based upon their mathematical modeling and numerical analysis.  As a result, they could kick close to 60 feet and hit the ceiling of the “arena”.

Congrats to the students who contributed to the construction of both of our winners!

And finally, it’s now time to announce the winner of the first set of Notre Dame football tickets we’re giving away. Congratulations to Ellen Mrowka! Ellen voted for Robocinco, but thankfully, guessing the correct MVR wasn’t a requirement to win. Ellen, we’ll be in touch with you to coordinate getting you your tickets!

First of all, let me thank everyone who has been a part of this event this year! Everyone from the students involved, the ND staff, the attendees, and everyone who has visited any of our sites. It’s been a blast so far and there’s still more to come! The event Friday went off really well, and we’d love for anyone who was able to attend the game to share some of your favorite moments from the game in the comments section below so that those who couldn’t make it can get a feel for what it was like.

As for the game itself, well I’ll let Professor Schmiedeler give you the rundown of Friday night:

“Friday night was a great success!  The crowd was estimated at 600 people during the first half, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Both teams clearly improved their play as the game went on, with the human controllers gaining skill through the in-game experience that simply hadn’t been replicated in practice.  Penalties were frequent, but did not ultimately determine the outcome, as Blue lost a total of 3 points and Gold lost 4.

The Gold team jumped out to an early lead with a safety on Blue’s first possession, managed to hold onto the lead for the duration of the game, and ultimately won the game 33-16.  The game really came down to a battle between the strong running and kicking attacks of the Gold team and the superior passing attack of the Blue team.  Gold’s running back ,#81 Knowshon Merobot, scampered into the endzone for a whopping four touchdowns (scoring 24 points), including one on the final play of the game.  Gold’s throwing quarterback ,#18 Peyton Cannon, spent much of the game sitting on the bench waiting for the call from the coach to toss some passes.  Late in the second half when Cannon did get a series of opportunities, he was promptly picked off by Blue’s #88 Infinity.  That was Gold’s only “completion”.  On special teams, #1 Dr. StaniKicks successfully nailed a field goal (scoring 5 points) and two of his three point-after attempts (scoring 2 points each).  StaniKicks was also used to pin the Blue deep in their own territory, contributing to the safety.

On the Blue side, throwing quarterback #13 Bomb Brady completed a short pass in the first half (scoring 7 points) and then really tried to open things up in the second half following the half-time rules adjustment that defenders must wait three seconds before blitzing.  On an exciting drive late in the second half, Brady completed a screen pass (scoring 3 points) and then missed an open receiver by a couple of inches on a long bomb that would have netted 12 points and tied the score, which was 25-13 in Gold’s favor at that time.  Even robot football is a game of inches, as that completion surely would have altered how the last minutes of the game unfolded.  Blue did answer Gold’s first touchdown of the game with a rushing touchdown of their own when #22 Stars turned the corner on the defense for a long run into the endzone that made the score 7-6 Gold midway through the first half.  Blue could not find a way to narrow the margin any more as the game progressed.”

Here are the final statistics from the game, which can help you in deciding on who to vote for in our MVR contest (which has been extended through today), if you haven’t done so just yet:

Blue Stats
#76 Terry Tate – 1 sack
#12 Bomb Brady – 1 short pass, 1 screen pass
#88 Infinity – 1 interception
#22 Stars – 1 rushing touchdown

Gold Stats
#1 Dr. Stanikicks – 1 field goal, 2 point after
#64 Music Man – 1 safety, 3 sacks
#71 Treasure Troll – 1 safety, 2 sacks
#81 Knowshon Morebot – 4 touchdowns

The day has finally come. The Stepan Center floor is in pristine condition as the field crew sweeps off the dust, ensuring it’s perfectly manicured come game time. I think I even saw some fans already lined up outside, waiting to try and get the best seats in the house. The robots are now going through all of their game day rituals. Going to the team mechanic to get a few last minute touch ups, eating their favorite pregame meals, and watching Rudy to get them pumped for the game.

You want to talk about psyched up? The excitement in the locker rooms can barely be contained. Music Man has been blasting tunes all day in the locker room to get the Gold team energized. Stars and Stripes, the twin running backs, barely slept a wink last night so they stayed up late watching film from the combine.

Walking around Stepan Center at the University of Notre Dame today, you just get the feeling that we’re on the verge of a special night. Images flash through your mind about the last second fumble from 2009 that cost the blue team the game. You can still hear the echos of the crowd erupting after a dramatic touchdown.

The robots have prepared for weeks for this moment and have dreamed about it ever since they were nothing more than scrap metal.

You better believe that each and every robot is ready. Ready to Play Like a Champion Today.

Here’s a few final notes for Game Day for everyone. First of all, let us remind you that there’s still time to enter the contests that we have going on. The only one that will conclude once the game starts is predicting the Motorola MVR (Most Valuable Robot) of the game. We’ll continue the commenting and questions contest through next week. Remember, there are some pretty sweet prizes at stake here, including Notre Dame Football tickets and robotics kits, so check out our contests page to see how to enter!

If you can’t make it to the game, you’re more than welcome to tune into the live stream of the game. You’ll be able to find the link come game-time over at http://www.nd.edu/~engineer/Mechatronic/. Also, be sure to check back next week as we’ll have all sorts of fresh video and photo content for you to look at!

If you’re going to be at the game tonight, remember that it’s at the Stepan Center at 7pm. The schedule will roughly go something like this:

• Flyover outside of the building by some of the Aerospace Engineers’ airplanes between 6:45 and 7 (weather permitting)
• Shortly before 7 – Welcome and Explanation of rules by announcers
• National Anthem, player introductions, referee introductions
• Coin toss
• Kick-off!
• Post-game – Brian Hederman Memorial Robotics Competition Award Ceremony
• Announcement of MVR

Remember, if you attend the game, you’ll have an opportunity to win a Brian Kelly autographed football!

Thanks to everyone who has supported the students so far and we really look forward to putting on quite a show for you tonight at the game!

Go Irish!

Blue Kicker

KickerBot XL

Jessica Bell
Mark Costanzo
Cameron Eckert
Ian Mills
Jacob Nelson
John Sabol

Blue Linemen

Toyota-We Can’t Stop, Terry Tate, Brobot Bob, The Fridge
Matt Bruggeman
Tim Malecek
Brent Neville
Aron O’Connor
Colin Scarola
Tom Soler

Blue Quarterback/Distributor

She’s The Fastest
Nicholas Abercrombie
Conner Cox
Ben Fritsch
Tyler Jaramillo
Kenny Minogue
Spencer White

Blue Quarterback/Passer

Bomb Brady
Brittney Dudley
Ben Fotsch
Robert Hicks
Jason Larch
Camilo Pascual
Brian Towle
Jeff Vitter
Matt Zenz

Blue Running Backs and Wide Receivers

Infinity, Beyond, Stars, Stripes
James Baummer
Kevin Dacey
Pablo De Luna
Adrienne Huseman
Michael O’Connor
Steven Rivera
Cassie Telman
Brad Towne

Gold Kicker

Dr. StaniKicks
Scott Deakins
Sara DeVore
Rachel Horning
James Naughton
John Schaefer
Kyle Schumaker
Zach Zimmer

Gold Linemen

Music Man, Treasure Troll, Janky Gypsy, Man from Mauritius
Tom Besio
Kelsey Kennedy
Joe Kerr
Ryan Lavorgna
Adam Matthews
Damian Sharratt

Gold Quarterback/Passer

Peyton Cannon
Mary Beauclair
Emilio Cecconi
Barry Clark
John Glavin
Cameron Hogue
Michael Koehler
Erik Miller
Andy Nester

Gold Quarterback/Distributor

Freshman Year Jimmy Clausen
Miro Brzobohaty
Allison Cudworth
John Howard
Ryan Peterson
Jessica Riese
Avery Scott

Gold Wide Receivers/Running Backs

Robocinco, Knowshon Merobot
James Breen
Mike Brundage
Patrick Burns
Tyler Cotter
Dana Lundberg
Andrew Saville

So, what exactly went down at last Thursday’s combine? We’re glad you asked because Professor Schmiedeler has provided us with his first hand account of the Combine!

“The combine kicked off with all of the robots lined up to simultaneously conduct the maintenance test.  They were driven two feet forward and stopped to verify functionality, and then the students took them apart however was needed to change out the main batteries.  Afterwards, they were again driven to confirm functionality.  Every robot completed the test in the required 5 minutes, but students had to feverishly finish up with two of them in the last 60 seconds.  In this and all other tests, Blue team members observed/recorded Gold team performance and vice versa.

“Next, each robot took turns completing the speed test – a running start 50 ft dash to be completed within 5 seconds.  Both teams’ quarterback/passer and Blue’s quarterback/distributor were a little slow, which is not surprising since they are the heaviest players and not really designed for speed.  All other players, except one of Blue’s linemen that had some control issues, met the requirement without difficulty.

“After that, the robots fanned out across the room for parallel completion of the controllability test (a 50 ft sprint from rest with side boundaries requiring a nearly straight-line path), positioning test (10 seconds to drive 2 ft forward, turn 90 degrees, go another 2 ft, and stop in a square on the floor with +/- 4 inches of precision in any direction), throwing precision test (the quarterback/passers throw 5 short and 5 long passes into a hula hoop to assess repeatability), handoff test (quarterback/distributor has 5 seconds to take the ball from the center and handoff to an adjacent running back without fumbling 5 times in a row), and kicking test (kickers make 8 attempts to complete a 32-ft kick with +/- 8 ft lateral precision).  With few exceptions, most of the robots met all minimum standards in these tests, yielding high marks for the students on what basically constituted their final exam.   One of the Blue linemen had to sit out the combine because its remote controller wasn’t working properly.  Some of the robots had to have their software reloaded by the student controls experts on site in between tests, but they went on to demonstrate full functionality.

“Coach Brian Kelly arrived in the midst of the testing, brought the students together for a locker-room style pre-game talk, and then broke the huddle to get everyone back to work.  Coach circulated to all of the testing stations to see the robots and met with most of the students to ask about the particular design challenges they overcame.  He was on hand for the first combine pass completion from the Blue quarterback/passer to a Blue wide receiver, resulting in an eruption of cheers.  Ironically, Coach Kelly was less successful than the robot receiver, as he fumbled a throw that the Blue quarterback tossed his way.  Admittedly, the throw was a little low, which is just about right for the robots that are no more than 2 ft tall.  It was fantastic to have the Coach on hand to see the robots in action and to share the achievements of the students in their senior design class.

“With the performance of both the Blue and the Gold teams being strong in the combine, a winner is hard to predict.  One player to watch, though, is the Gold kicker.  It was routinely kicking much longer distances than the requirement and with elevations that approached the Stepan Center ceiling.  The Blue kicker achieved a perfect score on the kicking test itself, so it has similar potential to put points on the board.  Ultimately, the game may be decided by which team has the stronger passing attack.  Since passes 15 ft beyond the line of scrimmage are worth 12 points (the same as 2 touchdowns!), the team that can get the ball to receivers downfield consistently could run away with it.  There’s talk among the coaches of intentionally losing yardage occasionally to provide more plays that can be these long passes.  Anything can happen on game day.”

The entire robotics football competition is thanks to the aerospace and mechanical engineering students who put in their hard work to build the robots. Obviously, this only serves as a small highlight in the careers of these students, so we figured it would be appropriate to let you get a feel for some of the great things that some Notre Dame engineering alums are accomplishing out in the field today. Excerpts are taken from Notre Dame engineering publications…

“During spring semester 2008 Joshua Bartrom, Caitlin Kopf, Laura Peveler, Matthew Prygoski, and Claire VerHulst teamed up to create a design and the mold for a new hip implant for minimally invasive surgery. In conjunction with a CAD/CAM course, their work was actually part of proprietary research that is being conducted by faculty in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with Zimmer, Inc., Inc., a world leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of orthopedic implants and fracture management products.”

“When Will McLeod graduated from Notre Dame in 2009 with dual degrees in mechanical engineering and industrial design, he had already won the Mendoza College of Business’ McCloskey Business Plan Competition, the Four Horseman Idea Plan Competition, and the TechPoint Indiana Venture Idol Statewide Competition for a “smart” window technology he and a team of undergraduates developed. As the concept grew, McLeod and team founded a company, Lono, L.L.C., to continue developing their concept. A patent is currently pending for their original “idea,” SmarterShade and several sister technologies. They are also completing an application for a Small Business Innovation Research grant to be able to develop each of their concepts into a market-ready device.

Matt Robinson (B.S., ‘96 ME; Ph.D., ‘01 AME) has worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2001. From 2003 to 2007, he has served as the robotic arm flight software lead responsible for the development, integration, and testing of the Phoenix Mars Lander’s robotic arm flight software. He developed ground software for simulating the arm’s activities and processing the data it retrieved. And, he designed and performed tests on the arm to analyze its capabilities and improve sample acquisition and handling techniques. His work helped NASA confirm water in soil samples gathered from Mars.

As you can see, Notre Dame’s Aeorospace and Mechanical Engineering alums are doing all sorts of exciting things in their respective fields. If you’re a middle school or high school student interested in engineering, the Robotics Football Game will be a great way for you to see some engineering skills being put into action. If you can’t make the event in person, you can check out our live streaming feed at mms://streaming.nd.edu/mechatronic.

We asked this question on our Facebook Page and wanted to give you a chance to answer here as well (because this is where you can enter one of our contests simply by leaving a comment!) So here is the question:

If you could pick a robot from any movie to be on your football team, who would it be (and why!)?

*Don’t forget, to be entered to win Notre Dame tickets, you must provide a valid e-mail address when commenting.