A robot-building competition was held Thursday between teams of students in Automation Systems, an Industrial Technology course.

Five teams of four students each constructed an independently moving robot consisting of a radio-controlled car, touch sensors, and a programmed set of instructions.

The finished cars then competed against one another in a variety of obstacle courses at the Industrial Education II building.

“[This course] encompasses industrial control systems, programmable logic controllers and we also do a little bit of robotics,” said Sergio Sgro, a graduate student and the course’s instructor.

The competition itself was part of a project that utilized the Programmable Logic Controllers, one of the main aspects of the finished robots. PLCs are programmable computers that send out signals to the robot, issuing commands based on sensory input, said Eric Leconte, senior in industrial technology and member of Group 1.

The robots had sensors that responded to touch.

“We put a program into [the PLC] so that when the car’s sensors hit something, the PLC responds by giving it a direction to turn in,” Leconte said.

The competition consisted of three obstacle courses, including a zigzag path, a zigzag path with obstructions and a three-point turn. Team Midnight Magic won the competition with a score of 28 out of a possible 30 points.

“All [manufacturer model] robots are going off of sensors,” said Joe Myers, senior in industrial technology and member of the Midnight Magic team.

“They can use light sensors, radioactivity sensors and a number of other things. [This course] is giving us the basics so that when we get out into the industry we can learn more.”

Students were given about two weeks to work on the project with six to eight hours in class.

“This is more a cumulative project, which actually encompasses a lot of areas in industrial technology itself such as electronics, mechanical skills and programming skills,” Sgro said.

Sgro, who has been teaching the course for three semesters, also stresses the problem-solving skills the class teaches students.

“One of the most important skills they will take away is not the technical skills, as much as using those technical skills with problem-solving skills,” Sgro said.