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Monday, 9 December 2024
A group of PhD students from University of Limerick have won a prestigious international Robotics Competition.
The BRIS Team from the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIS) at UL won three prizes including the overall prize at the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 8 Robot Championship 2024, held at the Montekristo Arena in Malta.
BRIS, a play on the Irish word for ‘break’, signalled the team’s intention was to demolish the opposition in this Robot Wars-style contest.
The competition consisted of 12 university teams competing their robots against each other across eight categories such as Best Teamwork, Best Looking Robot and Branding (Judges' Choice), Most Effective Add-on, Best Tactics and Best Design. As well as the Overall Prize, the UL team took home the prizes for Best Pushing Power and Best Manoeuvrability.
In a hotly contested semi-final and final, the UL team came out victorious over two teams from the University of Malta.
The UL robot was ably piloted by Marco Moreno, who had this to say about the win: “The competition was really exciting. We faced several challenges during the competition, but we managed to solve them. In the end, all the effort from weeks of hard work—even staying up until 3 am the night before—was reflected in the creation of a highly competitive robot.
“Force and speed are two aspects that don't usually go hand in hand, but we managed to create a robot that was fast and capable of transferring that energy against the opponents’ robot.”
The student team consisted of PhD students Marco Moreno, Ben Bartlett and Tom Dorian. The students were mentored by Matheus Santos and Petar Trslic from the School of Engineering and Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and were also supported by Associate Professor Eoin O’Connell and Associate Professor Ger Dooly, who congratulated the students on their victory.
“This win was the culmination of a lot of hard work, which started last August, with the final version of the robot being built in October after a number of iterations. I want to congratulate the students on demonstrating their learning so effectively in an international setting and wish them the best for the future.”
The IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional society; the students taking part were representing the UL student branch of the organisation. The competition showcased the best of robotics, creativity, and collaboration among young engineers and tech enthusiasts from across the IEEE Region 8 which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa.