Just call them Team Automatic.
Kansas State University’s Robotics Team won its seventh straight championship at the student robotics competition offered at the recent annual international meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Kansas City, Mo.
The university has never lost the competition since its inauguration in 2007.
“I think the students’ interest in robotics and their positive experience obtained through participating in the activities have kept them motivated year after year,” said Naiqian Zhang, professor of biological and agricultural engineering and team adviser. “The positive encouragement and strong support from the department of biological and agricultural engineering and the College of Engineering also were an important factor for their continued success.”
For the competition, the team had to design robots that could go into a hay field -- simulated by toilet paper rolls on a 8-by-8-foot board -- and pick up “bales” colored red, blue and green, then stack them at three corners of the board, respectively. Points were awarded for speed, accuracy and elegance of design.
Zhang said the students worked on their robots for several months prior to the competition.
Team members participating at the international competition included:
Spencer Kepley, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering, Chanute; Andrew Wiederholt, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering, Hartford; Yang Chen, junior in computer science, and Colten Smith, junior in mechanical engineering, both from Manhattan; Alisa Wendelburg, senior in agribusiness, Stafford; and Jed Barker, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering, and Jeriah Barker, sophomore in mechanical engineering, both from Topeka.
From China: Xin Pan, visiting scholar in biological and agricultural engineering; Xu “Kevin” Wang, doctoral candidate in biological and agricultural engineering; Yong Wei, doctoral student in biological and agricultural engineering; and Youjie Xu, master’s student in biological and agricultural engineering.