Students Win International Robotics Competition

By: Youssef Shebria 

@YShebria

AUC students have won the top award in the US-based Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition, for the first time in the history of the university.

Mechanical Engineering seniors Sarah ElFeqy, Mariam Hegazy, Mostafa Sedky, Mohamed Samy and Fares Fawzi spent the summer developing their own robot and came in first place at the annual competition held by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in California on August 19.

The robot was initially created for a class project focusing on helping people with physical disabilities or difficulty climbing stairs. However, after being accepted into the competition, the team had to come up with a different prototype that would take their idea a step further.

Participants were required to pass an initial screening phase, where they submit their prototype for assessment by a panel of judges selected by ASME.

The judges then evaluate which participants are allowed to enter the competition based on whether the idea introduces a new mechanism that either has a research value or practical application.

Samy said the AUC team used the old prototype, the robot, as a starting point in order to develop a new mechanism which mimics the motion of a dog’s legs at low speed with major improvements in stability and efficiency.

“This mechanism could be further developed for other applications like minesweeping, planetary explorations and biology studies in natural habitats,” he said.

With the help of the Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Mustafa Arafa, the team created their prototype over the course of four months after being accepted into the competition.

They were trying to adjust it so that it could reach its ideal shape and performance; however, they faced some obstacles.

“The whole period was extremely stressful because of a few technical and non-technical problems. We had the challenge of finding ideal pin joints for our prototype. This was not easy as the pins we needed had to be custom made, so we bought pins and modified them in the mechanical engineering workshop,” Sedky said.

After months of working on their robot, the team travelled to California a day before the competition with their final prototype. After arriving at the hotel and preparing for their big day, the team discovered  that two of their motors were not functioning.

In order to resolve this problem, the team bought two new motors from the closest store that was 20km away from their hotel. They then spent 12 hours working on fixing the problem with a few hours to spare before the competition.

“I am proud of the team’s synergy. They collaborated effectively … to capitalize on each student’s strength to serve the benefit of the project,” Arafa told The Caravan.

After presenting their prototype, the team was announced as the winner of the competition coming first ahead of another team from AUC and a team from a Turkish university.

“We hoped after the many difficulties we faced that we would find ourselves in the top [rankings], but what was really amazing was that we managed to win first place. We were all happy that our hard work had finally paid off,” Elfeqy said.

The last AUC team to take part in the competition came in fourth place in 2009.

“The team that participated ten years ago was the first team from AUC to be shortlisted amongst the finalists. Those students paved the way for younger generations to follow,” said Arafa.

Inspired by their win, four members of the team plan on pursuing a career in academic research, while Elfeqy is still weighing her options.