EET students part of Darwin21 winning team

Babel the robot cheers.

A transatlantic team of electrical engineering technology students, including six from Purdue’s College of Technology, placed first in the university category of the Darwin21 competition. The competition took place during the summer, and results were announced this month.

The Darwin21 design competition asked teams to create a mechanical body that has the ability to respond to commands and show emotions.

The team from Purdue and Lucerne University named their entry “Babel” because of the language barriers they had to overcome during their planning stages.

Their entry also placed second in the Expert category, which included entries from industrial members as well. The Babel team was praised for their professional design concept and attractive appearance of the robot. Purdue was the only American university involved with the competition.

Purdue student team members and their team assignments were:

Andy Howard, team captain and micro guru
Brittany Crum, disco floor with its multiple LED + PSOC systems
Mike Toth, body movement motors and controls
Fred Chou, servo motors and major software work
Sam Green, power supply
David King, servos and disco floor

The team was advised by professors Jeff Richardson and Glenn Blackwell.

The machines are now on tour across Switzerland to help interest students in technology careers.

See more photos and a video of the project (Click on "English" in the top righthand corner. Photos are in the Media section under "Images".)