QuickTime Movie
of SpazBot
1.24 MB

• SpazBot: This robot was built by Drew. It had a uni-bumper that would either be engaged in front or in rear of the robot. If the bumper was engaged, the robot would reverse direction and then spin in place and reverse direction again and go. Although this bot didn't keep track of where it had been, or where it was going, we all agreed that given enough time, it would eventually find the exit. This robot won the "Most Spins-in-place" trophy. A spotlight page for this robot can be found here.

QuickTime Movie
of MazeBot
1.10 MB

• MazeBot: This robot was built by Tom (another newcomer to our group). This robot was rather elegant in it's design. It utulized a rotating arm to "feel" the wall of the maze. The arm was mounted vertically and rotated in the same way a hand on the clock moves. With a rotation sensor on the same axle as the arm, the program was able to tell when the arm struck a wall. A second set of sensors were used to detect front end collisions. The robot attempted to follow the right-hand wall of the maze. Although it was the smartest of all the robots entered, MazeBot had problems keeping it's arm calibrated correctly. This robot won the "Crowd Favorite" trophy. A spotlight page for this robot can be found here.

QuickTime Movie
of Greg's bot
1.65 MB

• Greg's bot: Another random maze runner, Greg's bot had two touch sensors designed to alert the program of a left, right or front collision. The original intent was for the robot to turn away from an activated bumper. This way the robot would continuously center it'self in the corridors of the maze. Although in practice, there was some problem with the front end collision detection which had Greg adjusting his program endlessly during the vent. Greg's bot won the "Most Tweaks" trophy.

QuickTime Movie
of Synchro-Cube
1.81 MB

• Synchro-Cube: This robot was built by Josh. During his description of his robot Josh admits that the overall desire to build a synchro-drive did not stem from the challenge of solving the maze, but rather from wanting to work with new mechanics.

  Slightly smaller then the corridors of the maze, this robot attempted to use an array of touch sensors to determine which walls it was in contact with. Utilizing dead reckoning to move from one cell to the next, this robot was able to successfully navigate the main corridor of the maze. Although it's good fortune ended there. Due some design issues, the robot got hung up in the doorways which threw it's navigation system off. This robot won the "Most Technical For No Good Reason" trophy. A spotlight page for this bot can be found here.