Derby day dawns for robot vehicles

Each year, student teams from the University’s BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and BSc (Hons) Sound, Light and Live Event Technology degree courses are given six weeks to design and build a ‘Derbot’ (or Derby robot). The finished machines are pitted against one another in a race to complete tasks along an obstacle course.

Derbots are independent robot vehicles, guided by a built-in mini computer or MCU brain, rather than controlled by an operator. The same MCUs are in everything from cars to consumer electronic products, and give machines some 'intelligence'.

The 2014 Derbot Challenge will be held at 5pm on Tuesday 2^nd December, in Auditorium Four at the University’s Markeaton Street site.

Over 40 students will be split between 11 teams, comprised of a mix of UK and international students. Alumni of the University who have taken part in previous challenges are now designing advanced control systems for major companies, including Jaguar, Landrover and JCB.

“The students always have a lot of fun doing this event but it’s also based on hard work, and good engineering design techniques,” commented Tim Wilmshurst, Deputy Head of Engineering at the University. “They all build from the same basic Derbot design but then need to add further sensors and actuators, and write a computer programme to control their machine which gives them an edge in the obstacle course contest. The competition teaches them technical skills and how to work in a team; crucially with colleagues from other countries, as is likely to happen often in their future engineering careers. Our students could go on to develop next-gen ‘smart toys’, design control systems for the latest Jaguar car or succeed in many other fields.”

This year’s industry guest and prize sponsor for the winning team is Derby-based rail technology consultancy, Interfleet.