Recent graduate Heather Biggs, BSCS ’04, was a member of the RoBocats, a team of students who work year-round to develop robots that play soccer autonomously.
The RoboCup project, supported by alumni gifts as well as NASA, Ohio University’s 1804 Fund, and the Russ College, integrates computer science, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. To prepare, students and faculty play traditional soccer to learn what they need to help the robots do. Biggs says her favorite part of the project was the teamwork.
“I picked up things I don’t think I’d get in another class. We worked together. It gave you a feel for the workforce – working with other disciplines and learning how to communicate with each other.”
Armed with multidirectional wheels and metal kickers, the coffee-can-sized robots shoot an orange golf ball around a “soccer field” the area of two ping-pong tables. A light-sensitive video camera mounted above feeds robot positions to a computer that uses artificial intelligence to coordinate the best play. Distributed computing – programming that can function across multiple machines – sends power from idle robots to the robot on the ball. The RoBocats meet for class weekly, earning academic credit for their research. But the interactive, interdisciplinary class isn’t your typical lecture course.
“It’s not just an assignment someone else has solved 12 times. Besides doing an internship or a co-op, it’s not an experience you would get in college,” says Biggs, who stayed on at the Russ College for graduate school in part because of the program.
