» What is the Robotics Club?

The Pennsylvania State University Robotics Club, founded in 2004, is a student-run organization that provides a place for students at Penn State to come together and learn about robotics. The robotics club is an entirely extracurricular activity, where members attend solely out of a passion for robotics. Students from the engineering, computer science, and even business and liberal arts departments can be found in the club!

As a member of the robotics club, a student has several options open to his or her interests: Most students choose to engage in one of the many competitions the club participates in each year. Some use the opportunity to work on group projects, using and creating new technologies.

» What do we do?

The robotics club participates in several activities year-round. These activities are competitive, and provide a fun environment to learn news skills and test them against real competitors.

The club hosts its own competition each year, named the mouse maze competition. This table-top scale contest pits two fully autonomous robots against each other in a race to capture the enemy’s flag and return to the robot’s own base. In past years, the club has also hosted the Sumo-Bot competition.

The club also supports member-travel to several different competitions and events throughout the year. The Trinity College Fire-Fighting robot competition, for example, is an international and well known contest in which robots must navigate through a maze to identify and extinguish a lit candle. Members of the club have recently earned the honor of placing third in the Walking Robot division of the competition. Members are also involved in the fully autonomous Penn State Abington Mini-Grand Challenge and the large-scale AUVSI IGVC with Penn State research groups.

» How do I learn more?

For more information about the competitions and projects the club is involved with, please visit the Robotics Club’s wiki articles about Table Top and Collegiate Robotics.

» Awards and Recognition

The Penn State Robotics Club competes in several local, national, and international competitions. Below are the lists of awards we have won over the years:

2006 Mini Grand Challenge Winner

2008 AUVSI IGVC 7th National Winner

2008 Fire Fighting Challenge, Walking Division

To be updated…