Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Robots took over the University of Utah Tuesday as part of the 13th annual Mechanical Engineering Design Day.
Among the projects on display were a device to reconnect severed arteries, a rescue robot for trapped miners and a human-powered elevator.
Engineering students also built 25 Ping-Pong ball shooting robots. They were all built by freshmen students who could only use hand tools and basic material from Ace Hardware.
They say the projects help give them real-world experience in a fun way. Some called it a reality check as to the work that goes into robotics.
Mechanical engineering student Carter James said, "I think we've put at least 50 hours into this model and all it does is drive along a course and shoot Ping-Pong balls."
The teams with the most accurate robots got a free pass for final exam.
