507: Southeast Con

Southeast Con is a student conference hosted yearly by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) that includes a hardware competition where college teams design, build and program an autonomous robot. For the 2025 competition, the game field measured 4' x 8' with an asteroid theme. Scattered around were magnetic and non-magnetic materials. The field had an outdoor section and an indoor cave area with a camera emitting infrared waves that interfered with sensors. The primary goal was sorting materials into matching bins, with students deciding which tasks to prioritize for points.

We worked alongside Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) students to create a robot that efficiently collected and deposited materials into Cosmic Shipping Containers (CSC). The ECE students equipped it with a camera for navigation. We created predetermined paths to navigate the field—after picking up the CSC, the path took the robot into the cave, moved it inside, then exited, with a similar path outside.

After evaluating designs, we selected one with a ramp with rubber band rollers. A claw on the robot’s back gripped and dragged the CSC. The rollers moved materials up the ramp and dropped them into the CSC. We focused on collecting as many materials as possible within the three-minute time limit, prioritizing speed over sorting. This simplified approach aimed to earn maximum points.