The Robotek team of 9 students in design of Mechanical manufacturing as well as electro-technical and automated system of the University of Mondragón (Basque Country, Spain) in cooperation with tbe Siberian team, has won the European final of the First Tech Challenge (FTC).
This competition took place on March 17th in Tarragona (Catalunya, Spain) during the European Robotics Festival and it was the 1st edition in Europe. This victory has ensured them a place a the world final that wil take place this April in Saint Louis (Missouri, USA).
First Tech Challenge
This international competition of mechanical design and robotics will gather the education centers of over 50 countries and a total of 173 teams of students between 18 and 23 years of age from universities such as Missouri, Massachusetts, Kansas, etc.
This is a new way of learning scientific-technological concepts. Aspects like creativity, originality, team work are considered promoting personal initiative and companionship. Although it was held in Europe for the first time, more than 2,300 teams have participated in the US since the year 2005 and it is sponsored by multi-national companies like Boeing, NASA, Motorola, Chrysler or FedEx among others.
MU, only Basque center competing
The purpose is still the same as in Europe: «promote future scientific and technological vocations in a fun, attractive and stimulating way». The Mondragón University team, ROBOTEK, presented a prototype built with plastic and aluminum profiles that moves with track-wheels. The pieces used for this prototype were machined by the students themselves using Fagor Automation CNC’s.The goal of this current edition consisted in adding as many points as possible by inserting rings in a hanger located in the middle of the competition area. It was the best robot. None of the 17 participants coming from several Spanish regions and from other countries like Holland, Russia and United States could beat the record of the Basque team.
Fagor Automation, Mondragón Assembly, IK4 and Danobat Group, among others, sponsored this great project. The representatives of each institution was given a medal as a token of appreciation for their support .
