PRATT Student Group News

  • March 12, 2008

    Harrington - Leading Duke's ASCE Chapter

    Student Highlight: Josclyn Harrington Hometown: Charlotte, N.C. Josclyn Harrington got involved with the Duke chapter of the American Society for Civil Engineering (ASCE) in her sophomore year. Now a senior and ASCE president, she will lead the student club in its annual concrete canoe race and steel bridge competition at the Carolinas Conference. The annual conference gives students fun opportunities to test out both their technical and communications skills. Last year, Duke's canoe, dubbed the "Hazzards of Duke," was ...
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  • October 3, 2006

    Students Repair Medical Equipment in Developing Nations

    Rather than relaxing on a beach, eight Duke students spent their summer vacations repairing medical equipment in some of the world's poorest hospitals. Pratt students Matthew Mian and Michael Mathis fixed two centrifuges at the Hospital Espaņa, Nicaragua. As each centrifuge had a range of mechanical problems, including blown fuses, broken power switches, and worn down motor brushes, the effort offered a great opportunity to put their engineering skills to work. Seven engineering students and one nursing ...
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  • October 3, 2006

    Students Repair Medical Equipment in Developing Nations

    Rather than relaxing on a beach, eight Duke students spent their summer vacations repairing medical equipment in some of the world's poorest hospitals. Pratt students Matthew Mian and Michael Mathis fixed two centrifuges at the Hospital Espaņa, Nicaragua. As each centrifuge had a range of mechanical problems, including blown fuses, broken power switches, and worn down motor brushes, the effort offered a great opportunity to put their engineering skills to work. Seven engineering students and one nursing ...
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  • October 3, 2006

    Hip Hop Inspires Kids' Interest in Science

    Rachael Brady, Robi Roberts and Scott Lindroth On Sept. 28, middle school students in two states took part in an experiment combining an artist's images, a rapper's music and the students' movements. The joint interactive performance, called MiX TAPEStry, took place in Duke's Fitzpatrick CIEMAS studio and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Krannert Art Museum. The name of the project plays on the "mix tapes" of hip hop culture and is part of an effort to interest ...
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  • October 3, 2006

    Hip Hop Inspires Kids' Interest in Science

    Rachael Brady, Robi Roberts and Scott Lindroth On Sept. 28, middle school students in two states took part in an experiment combining an artist's images, a rapper's music and the students' movements. The joint interactive performance, called MiX TAPEStry, took place in Duke's Fitzpatrick CIEMAS studio and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Krannert Art Museum. The name of the project plays on the "mix tapes" of hip hop culture and is part of an effort to interest ...
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  • September 1, 2006

    Awards Bring Sustainable Design, Technology to Classroom

    EPA Supports Student Designs Aimed at Sustainability after Natural Disaster One of the P3 grants will enable students to expand on efforts by former Pratt students, including Jim Garnevicus (above), to restore fisheries in Indonesia. Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering has received two "People, Prosperity, and the Planet" (P3) grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed at sustainable technologies for use in regions crippled by natural disaster. One of the $10,000 awards will support students in ...
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  • September 1, 2006

    Awards Bring Sustainable Design, Technology to Classroom

    EPA Supports Student Designs Aimed at Sustainability after Natural Disaster One of the P3 grants will enable students to expand on efforts by former Pratt students, including Jim Garnevicus (above), to restore fisheries in Indonesia. Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering has received two "People, Prosperity, and the Planet" (P3) grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed at sustainable technologies for use in regions crippled by natural disaster. One of the $10,000 awards will support students in ...
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  • August 17, 2006

    Engineering Students to Customize Playground for All

    Children of all abilities will soon have a place to play together in Durham. With the help of volunteers, including several Duke students, the Durham Parks and Recreation Department began construction in mid-August of a fully handicap-accessible playground at Morreene Road Park. Slated to open on Oct. 1, the playground will be further customized in the coming months with the addition of designs developed and built by members of Duke's chapter of Engineers Without Borders ...
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  • August 7, 2006

    Duke Robotics Club Takes 2nd Place in Underwater Competition

    Persistence paid off for Duke student members of the Robotics Club at the 9th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition held in San Diego, Calif., from Aug. 2-6. Their enhanced version of the robot "Charybdis" took second place and $5,000. Twenty undergraduate teams and one high school team participated in the event, which is sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Office of Naval Research. The challenge involved four tasks: pass through an ...
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  • August 7, 2006

    Duke Robotics Club Takes 2nd Place in Underwater Competition

    Persistence paid off for Duke student members of the Robotics Club at the 9th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition held in San Diego, Calif., from Aug. 2-6. Their enhanced version of the robot "Charybdis" took second place and $5,000. Twenty undergraduate teams and one high school team participated in the event, which is sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Office of Naval Research. The challenge involved four tasks: pass through an ...
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  • August 2, 2006

    A Summer Introduction to Science

    Durham area middle school students raced wooden sailboats across a small pool outside the Fitzpatrick Center last week as part of the third annual Innoworks program, a science camp created and operated by Duke undergrads.This year's theme, exploration, gave students a hands-on look at different environments: land, sea, space and the human body. By racing the sailboats, the students learned about water transportation and weight balance by adding pennies to their craft. "It has helped me learn ...
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  • May 1, 2006

    Civil and Environmental Engineers Test Skill in Annual Design Contests

    Two groups of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) students competed in design contests in April. One group tested a system they designed to remove arsenic from drinking water at a contest in Las Cruces, N. M. on April 2-6. The event is organized each year by an environmental education and technology development consortium called WERC. A second group competed in a variety of events including a steel bridge building contest and a concrete canoe race--at ...
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  • May 1, 2006

    Civil and Environmental Engineers Test Skill in Annual Design Contests

    Two groups of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) students competed in design contests in April. One group tested a system they designed to remove arsenic from drinking water at a contest in Las Cruces, N. M. on April 2-6. The event is organized each year by an environmental education and technology development consortium called WERC. A second group competed in a variety of events including a steel bridge building contest and a concrete canoe race--at ...
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  • April 18, 2006

    Duke Student Entrepreneurs To Compete for Start Up Funds

    DURHAM, N.C. - Physicians who have struggled for years to monitor and treat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa could soon have a low-cost solution thanks to a team of students at Duke University. These students, and others with unique ideas to improve health care technology in developing countries, are vying for the top prize in a Duke University business plan competition Saturday. The student business named Global ImmunoDiagnostics has developed what its organizers believe is ...
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  • April 18, 2006

    Duke Student Entrepreneurs To Compete for Start Up Funds

    DURHAM, N.C. - Physicians who have struggled for years to monitor and treat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa could soon have a low-cost solution thanks to a team of students at Duke University. These students, and others with unique ideas to improve health care technology in developing countries, are vying for the top prize in a Duke University business plan competition Saturday. The student business named Global ImmunoDiagnostics has developed what its organizers believe is ...
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  • March 14, 2006

    Through Hands-On Activities, Morecroft Puts Knowledge and Experience to Work

    What do a smart toilet, a racecar and an aeration device for shrimp farmers all have in common? They were all built with the mind and hands of fourth-generation engineer and Pratt undergraduate Chris Morecroft. Morecroft is president of Duke's Formula SAE Racecar Team, a member of Duke's student chapter of Engineers Without Borders and former president and treasurer of Duke's student section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He's also a midshipman in the ...
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  • October 10, 2005

    Robot Truck Carrying Duke Radar Finishes 2nd in Desert Race

    PRIMM, Nev. A modified, driverless Humvee using a radar system developed by Duke students finished second by 11 minutes Oct. 8 in a demanding seven-hour, 131.6-mile desert race sponsored by the Defense Department to pave the way for autonomous military vehicles for future warfare. The 1986 robot truck called Sandstorm beat its stable mate, a 1999 Hummer named H1ghlander, by nine minutes. Both vehicles were developed by the "Red Team" put together by Carnegie ...
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  • September 27, 2005

    Duke Engineering Program Improves Hospital Conditions in Developing Countries

    Durham, N.C. -- Duke engineering student Le (Lucy) He was stunned to discover that the lights in the operating room of her adopted Rosales, El Salvador, hospital flickered off and on during the day. Similarly, upon her first visit to the hospital, she saw patients in beds everywhere but few working monitors hooked up to them. Lucy He is one of five Duke University students who have returned to campus from a challenging and rewarding summer ...
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  • September 24, 2005

    Duke Engineers Win International Wall-Crawling Competition Again

    DURHAM, N.C. -- A 2.5-pound robot named "Wallter" designed by Duke University Pratt School of engineering students has won for the second year in a row an international wall-crawling robotics competition held in London. Wallter, now a two-year-old, competed against university teams from the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy this year to win a $900 prize at the 8th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots Sept. 12-15. Each team's robot was required to move from ...
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  • September 10, 2005

    Duke Students Assist Tsunami Reconstruction

    Durham, N.C. -- While much of the world this week is riveted by images of natural destruction along the American Gulf Coast, several Duke students and alumni returned to the United States with memories of another recent disaster. It's been nine months since a tsunami surged over the land in Sumatra and other areas of the Indian Ocean, but as Deirdre McShane tells it, the line of demarcation that separated the area of destruction from the ...
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  • September 1, 2005

    Charybdis Battles Again

    Peter (Andy) Smith, Brian Hilgeford, and Gareth Guvanasen This summer, the Duke Robotics Club won 4th place and a $2,000 prize at the International 2005 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego, Calif. They won an additional $1,000 for being the "Most Dockable" vehicle at the event, as they were the only team that successfully made contact with a submerged docking station. "This year's competition had a very practical slant. The 'mission' was more like what a ...
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  • September 1, 2005

    Charybdis Battles Again

    Peter (Andy) Smith, Brian Hilgeford, and Gareth Guvanasen This summer, the Duke Robotics Club won 4th place and a $2,000 prize at the International 2005 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in San Diego, Calif. They won an additional $1,000 for being the "Most Dockable" vehicle at the event, as they were the only team that successfully made contact with a submerged docking station. "This year's competition had a very practical slant. The 'mission' was more like what a ...
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  • August 5, 2005

    Duke Engineering Students Tackle Tsunami Recovery Projects in Indonesia

    Note to editors: High-resolution images will be available on request at the end of the trip. David Schaad and Jean Foster will have intermittent email access during the trip and can be reached at david.schaad@duke.edu and jean.foster@duke.edu. DURHAM, N.C. -- Five engineering students from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering later this month will repair shrimp hatcheries in Indonesia damaged by the 2004 tsunami and help villagers stabilize an airstrip to prevent erosion. The team will travel ...
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  • July 6, 2005

    Duke Radar May Give Red Team Competitive Edge in DARPA Grand Challenge Race

    Duke University engineering students have designed an onboard radar system to give Red Team vehicles a competitive edge in the upcoming DARPA Grand Challenge race. In that contest, vehicles must run across a desert entirely self-guided without human intervention. The Red Team is an alliance of students, corporations and volunteers led by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The team is developing two modified Hummers to run in the competition this fall sponsored ...
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  • June 20, 2005

    Duke Smart House Wins Sustainability Grant

    Every two years, the EPA and its 40 partners from industry, Non-Governmental Organizations, and other government agencies, hold a student design competition for sustainability called the P3 Award. This year, the Duke Engineering Living Technology Advancement (DELTA) Smart House Project was selected as one of the 50 teams to compete in next year's contest. In the Spring of 2005, a team of cross-disciplinary engineering faculty (Martin Brooke/ECE, Robert Kielb/MEMS, Joe Nadeau/CEE, and David Schaad/CEE along with ...
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  • June 1, 2005

    Duke Launches Engineers Without Borders Chapter

    Duke University has established a student chapter of Engineers Without Borders with the help of two determined senior civil engineering students, Jean Foster of Boulder, Colo. and Deidre McShane of Longwood, Fla. Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to pairing disadvantaged communities with engineering students and professionals to improve quality of life through environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. One of the program's goals is to develop internationally responsible engineering students. "Engineers Without ...
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  • June 1, 2005

    Duke Launches Engineers Without Borders Chapter

    Duke University has established a student chapter of Engineers Without Borders with the help of two determined senior civil engineering students, Jean Foster of Boulder, Colo. and Deidre McShane of Longwood, Fla. Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to pairing disadvantaged communities with engineering students and professionals to improve quality of life through environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. One of the program's goals is to develop internationally responsible engineering students. "Engineers Without ...
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  • June 1, 2005

    Great Finish for FSAE Race Car Team

    Back row: Dr. Rob Clark, Hardy Shen, Nick Goddard, Will Senner, Jeff McCormick, Will Cooper, John Goodfellow, Tony Knight, Mike Bauer, and Julien Finlay. Front row: Danny Lacher, Chris Morecroft, Jesse Sloss Silverman, Tzuo Hann Law, Joe Goo, Mike Klug and Kristen Hill. Dr. Rhett George is in the car. Duke's Formula SAE Race Car team placed 31st in a field of 140 teams at the May 18-22 competition in Detroit, MI. This is the strongest ...
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  • June 1, 2005

    Great Finish for FSAE Race Car Team

    Back row: Dr. Rob Clark, Hardy Shen, Nick Goddard, Will Senner, Jeff McCormick, Will Cooper, John Goodfellow, Tony Knight, Mike Bauer, and Julien Finlay. Front row: Danny Lacher, Chris Morecroft, Jesse Sloss Silverman, Tzuo Hann Law, Joe Goo, Mike Klug and Kristen Hill. Dr. Rhett George is in the car. Duke's Formula SAE Race Car team placed 31st in a field of 140 teams at the May 18-22 competition in Detroit, MI. This is the strongest ...
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  • May 1, 2005

    Pratt ASCE Team Does Well at Carolinas Conference

    Pratt's student American Society of Civil Engineers teams competed in six of eight events in the ASCE's Carolinas Conference April 7-10 and placed in five. The Duke team won the "Water Fountain Fun" event, placed second in the Quiz Bowl and the Environmental Design Competition, and third in the Balsawood Building Design and the T-Shirt Design. The one disappointment was in the concrete canoe competition. A small piece of the Duke canoe broke off during the trip ...
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  • May 1, 2005

    Pratt ASCE Team Does Well at Carolinas Conference

    Pratt's student American Society of Civil Engineers teams competed in six of eight events in the ASCE's Carolinas Conference April 7-10 and placed in five. The Duke team won the "Water Fountain Fun" event, placed second in the Quiz Bowl and the Environmental Design Competition, and third in the Balsawood Building Design and the T-Shirt Design. The one disappointment was in the concrete canoe competition. A small piece of the Duke canoe broke off during the trip ...
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  • May 1, 2005

    Duke Motorsports Team Wins in Autocross

    The Duke University Motorsports team, consisting primarily of engineering students, posted four of the top five times and won its class April 23 in their open-wheel, single-seat Formula SAE racecar at an autocross in Greenville, N.C. The racing was sponsored by the Tar Heel Sports Car Club, a local chapter of the Sports Car Club of America. About 120 cars of all types competed in the event, which was a tune-up for the Duke team's main ...
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  • May 1, 2005

    Duke Motorsports Team Wins in Autocross

    The Duke University Motorsports team, consisting primarily of engineering students, posted four of the top five times and won its class April 23 in their open-wheel, single-seat Formula SAE racecar at an autocross in Greenville, N.C. The racing was sponsored by the Tar Heel Sports Car Club, a local chapter of the Sports Car Club of America. About 120 cars of all types competed in the event, which was a tune-up for the Duke team's main ...
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  • May 1, 2005

    Pratt Breaks Ground for Duke Smart House

    The Pratt School of Engineering broke ground April 21 for the Duke Smart House, a two-story residence-laboratory that will house 10 undergraduates and allow them to try out the latest systems and gadgets for a more efficient, environmentally friendly home of the future. Located at the corner of Faber and Powe streets on Duke's Central Campus, the 4,500-square-foot Duke Smart House will be the first of a kind at the university, and allow students to design, ...
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  • May 1, 2005

    Pratt Breaks Ground for Duke Smart House

    The Pratt School of Engineering broke ground April 21 for the Duke Smart House, a two-story residence-laboratory that will house 10 undergraduates and allow them to try out the latest systems and gadgets for a more efficient, environmentally friendly home of the future. Located at the corner of Faber and Powe streets on Duke's Central Campus, the 4,500-square-foot Duke Smart House will be the first of a kind at the university, and allow students to design, ...
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  • April 23, 2005

    Smart House Groundbreaking -- The Best Is Yet to Come

    The Pratt School of Engineering broke ground April 21 for the Duke Smart House, a two-story residence-laboratory that will house 10 undergraduates and allow them to try out the latest systems and gadgets for a more efficient, environmentally friendly home of the future. Located at the corner of Faber and Powe streets on Duke's Central Campus, the 4,500-square-foot Duke Smart House will be the first of a kind at the university, and allow students to design, ...
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  • April 20, 2005

    Duke Breaks Ground April 21 On "Smart House" Engineering Research Lab

    Note to editors: Design renderings of the Duke Smart House are available on request to Deborah Hill, communications director for the Pratt School of Engineering, at (919) 660-8403. DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering will break ground Thursday, April 21, for the Duke Smart House -- a 4,500-square-foot undergraduate live-in engineering research laboratory. The highly automated, two-story house will include such features as systems to filter out unwanted background noise; lights, music and temperatures ...
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  • April 1, 2005

    Duke Students Teaming Up with Carnegie Mellon to Win $2 million Robot Prize

    Students from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering are partnering with Carnegie Mellon University's "Red Team" in an effort to win a $2 million prize from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). All they have to do is complete the toughest ground course ever devised for a self-guided robotic vehicle. The contest, called the DARPA Grand Challenge, is a race between fully self-guided ground vehicles to be conducted in the Southwestern United States on Oct. ...
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  • April 1, 2005

    Duke Students Teaming Up with Carnegie Mellon to Win $2 million Robot Prize

    Students from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering are partnering with Carnegie Mellon University's "Red Team" in an effort to win a $2 million prize from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). All they have to do is complete the toughest ground course ever devised for a self-guided robotic vehicle. The contest, called the DARPA Grand Challenge, is a race between fully self-guided ground vehicles to be conducted in the Southwestern United States on Oct. ...
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  • March 30, 2005

    Robot Competition to Highlight Student Engineer Conference at Duke

    Note to editors: News media are invited to attend without charge. An agenda is available at: http://asme.pratt.duke.edu/conference/agenda.php DURHAM, N.C. -- Engineering students from universities throughout the Southeast will compete April 1-3 in a robot stair-climbing contest and other competitions at an American Society of Mechanical Engineers regional conference held at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering. The conference website is http://asme.pratt.duke.edu. More than 150 students, as well as middle school teachers and others, are expected to participate ...
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  • March 8, 2005

    Duke University Engineers Join "Red Team" Robotic Vehicle Team

    DURHAM, N.C. -- Students from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering are partnering with Carnegie Mellon University's "Red Team" in an effort to win a $2 million prize from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). All they have to do is complete the toughest ground course ever devised for a self-guided robotic vehicle. The contest, called the DARPA Grand Challenge, is a race between fully self-guided ground vehicles to be conducted in the Southwestern United ...
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  • January 1, 2005

    Robot Car with Duke Radar Races Across Desert

    Left, Jason Ziglar, right, Josh Johnston A modified, driverless Humvee using a radar system developed by Duke students finished second by 11 minutes Oct. 8 in a demanding seven-hour, 131.6-mile Nevada desert race sponsored by the Defense Department to pave the way for autonomous military vehicles for future warfare. The 1986 robot truck called Sandstorm beat its stable mate, a 1999 Hummer named H1ghlander, by nine minutes. Both vehicles were developed by the "Red Team" put together ...
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  • January 1, 2005

    Robot Car with Duke Radar Races Across Desert

    Left, Jason Ziglar, right, Josh Johnston A modified, driverless Humvee using a radar system developed by Duke students finished second by 11 minutes Oct. 8 in a demanding seven-hour, 131.6-mile Nevada desert race sponsored by the Defense Department to pave the way for autonomous military vehicles for future warfare. The 1986 robot truck called Sandstorm beat its stable mate, a 1999 Hummer named H1ghlander, by nine minutes. Both vehicles were developed by the "Red Team" put together ...
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  • December 1, 2004

    Two Robot Vehicles Set for $2 Million Desert Race

    Two robotic vehicles using radar systems provided by students at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering performed well in initial qualifying runs and appeared likely to be selected to compete in the $2 million Grand Challenge race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Oct. 8. The two sensor-laden, driverless vehicles were developed by a team led by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Called the Red Team, the group is an alliance ...
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  • December 1, 2004

    Two Robot Vehicles Set for $2 Million Desert Race

    Two robotic vehicles using radar systems provided by students at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering performed well in initial qualifying runs and appeared likely to be selected to compete in the $2 million Grand Challenge race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Oct. 8. The two sensor-laden, driverless vehicles were developed by a team led by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Called the Red Team, the group is an alliance ...
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  • December 1, 2004

    Robot Designed by Pratt Students Wins Wall Climb

    A 2.5-pound robot named "Wallter" designed by Pratt School of Engineering students at Duke has won for the second year in a row an international wall-crawling robotics competition held in London. Wallter, now a two-year-old, competed against university teams from the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy this year to win a $900 prize at the 8th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots Sept. 12-15. Each team's robot was required to move from the floor to ...
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  • December 1, 2004

    Robot Designed by Pratt Students Wins Wall Climb

    A 2.5-pound robot named "Wallter" designed by Pratt School of Engineering students at Duke has won for the second year in a row an international wall-crawling robotics competition held in London. Wallter, now a two-year-old, competed against university teams from the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy this year to win a $900 prize at the 8th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots Sept. 12-15. Each team's robot was required to move from the floor to ...
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  • November 5, 2004

    Duke robot climbs to victory in Madrid

    Note to editors: A high-resolution, downloadable photo of the Duke robot is available at http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/images/robot1104.jpg. The students pictured are: top left, Andrew Meyerson; top right, Julien Finlay; bottom center, Kevin Parker. DURHAM, N.C. -- A wall-climbing, book-sized autonomous vehicle made by a Duke University team drove up a challenging vertical course to win first prize in an international competition Sept. 22-24 in Madrid. The student competition was part of the seventh annual International Conference on Climbing and ...
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  • September 1, 2004

    Duke Students Win Praise For Innovative Design In International Robotics Competition

    A translucent blue flying-saucer-shaped underwater robot created by Duke students whirled and skimmed its way to a prize for the most innovative design at a recent competition. Dubbed Charybdis -- after a mythical Greek sea monster that gulped and spewed seawater to create deadly whirlpools -- the robot won the $1,000 prize for innovation in the international 2004 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. The competition, sponsored by the Association for Underwater Vehicles Systems International and the Office ...
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  • September 1, 2004

    Duke Students Win Praise For Innovative Design In International Robotics Competition

    A translucent blue flying-saucer-shaped underwater robot created by Duke students whirled and skimmed its way to a prize for the most innovative design at a recent competition. Dubbed Charybdis -- after a mythical Greek sea monster that gulped and spewed seawater to create deadly whirlpools -- the robot won the $1,000 prize for innovation in the international 2004 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. The competition, sponsored by the Association for Underwater Vehicles Systems International and the Office ...
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  • August 21, 2004

    Duke Robot Named Most Innovative in Recent Underwater Competition

    A translucent, blue flying-saucer-shaped underwater robot created by Duke students whirled and skimmed its way to a prize for the most innovative design at a recent competition. Dubbed Charybdis -- after a mythical Greek sea monster that gulped and spewed seawater to create deadly whirlpools -- the robot won the $1,000 prize for innovation in the international 2004 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. The competition, sponsored by the Association for Underwater Vehicles Systems International and the Office ...
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  • February 1, 2004

    Robo Rice Rumble Sets the Bar High

    Seventeen engineering students from the 7 teams that competed. Twenty-one determined engineering undergrads competed in the fourth annual mechanical engineering design contest, held Nov. 16. Dubbed "Robo Rice Rumble," this competition was the most technically difficult yet. The challenge: build a robot that can transport shifting loads of rice and dump it into a box. The catch? The robot first has to climb three stairs with slightly different heights and then down a step to get in position ...
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  • February 1, 2004

    Robo Rice Rumble Sets the Bar High

    Seventeen engineering students from the 7 teams that competed. Twenty-one determined engineering undergrads competed in the fourth annual mechanical engineering design contest, held Nov. 16. Dubbed "Robo Rice Rumble," this competition was the most technically difficult yet. The challenge: build a robot that can transport shifting loads of rice and dump it into a box. The catch? The robot first has to climb three stairs with slightly different heights and then down a step to get in position ...
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  • January 1, 2004

    Duke Robot Climbs to Victory in Madrid

    From left to right: Andrew Meyerson, Brian Burney, Kevin Parker, and Julien Finlay. Parker holds "Wallter" the wall-climbing robot during the robotics conference in Madrid. A wall-climbing, book-sized autonomous vehicle made by a Duke University team drove up a challenging vertical course to win first prize in an international competition Sept. 22-24 in Madrid. The student competition was part of the seventh annual International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots. Jason Janet, an adjunct professor in Duke's electrical and computer engineering ...
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  • January 1, 2004

    Duke Robot Climbs to Victory in Madrid

    From left to right: Andrew Meyerson, Brian Burney, Kevin Parker, and Julien Finlay. Parker holds "Wallter" the wall-climbing robot during the robotics conference in Madrid. A wall-climbing, book-sized autonomous vehicle made by a Duke University team drove up a challenging vertical course to win first prize in an international competition Sept. 22-24 in Madrid. The student competition was part of the seventh annual International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots. Jason Janet, an adjunct professor in Duke's electrical and computer engineering ...
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  • December 9, 2003

    Duke Engineering Students Planning to Build 'Smart House'

    What better way to learn about design than to live in what you create? After a year of planning, Duke University engineering students hope to see their ideas come to life in a "smart house" expected to house 10 upperclass students each year. In the spring of 2004, if plans are approved by Duke's Board of Trustees, Duke's Pratt School of Engineering will break ground on a combination undergraduate research laboratory, residence and engineering outreach project ...
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  • February 28, 2003

    March Madness Hits Pratt School of Engineering

    Two North Carolinian sports traditions will meet engineering know-how in the second annual design contest of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Wednesday, March 5, in Love Auditorium. Students will combine motorsports and basketball in an effort to win cash prizes of up to $2,000. This year's design contest requires students to create remote-controlled machines that can take a Ping-Pong ball from the corner of an 8-foot-square court and place it in a "basketball ...
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  • December 1, 2002

    Pratt's Underwater Turtle-Bot Takes 3rd Place

    The Duke Robotics Club placed third in a field of 12 in the 6th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in August in San Diego. In taking third, the club scored a noteworthy victory over the team from MIT, which placed fourth. The Pratt club's robot, Gamera, is a 30-inch wide autonomous assembly of electrical motors, computers and batteries named after a giant flying turtle that starred in a Japanese monster movie. The Pratt robot's most turtle-like ...
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  • December 1, 2002

    Pratt's Underwater Turtle-Bot Takes 3rd Place

    The Duke Robotics Club placed third in a field of 12 in the 6th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition in August in San Diego. In taking third, the club scored a noteworthy victory over the team from MIT, which placed fourth. The Pratt club's robot, Gamera, is a 30-inch wide autonomous assembly of electrical motors, computers and batteries named after a giant flying turtle that starred in a Japanese monster movie. The Pratt robot's most turtle-like ...
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  • April 4, 2002

    Student Engineers to Test Designs With Concrete Canoe Races

    Duke University's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on April 4-6 will host this year's regional Carolinas Conference and nine student engineering design competitions, including concrete canoe races. The conference, an annual event for 10 engineering schools in the Carolinas and Georgia, is expected to attract nearly 350 students. In addition to the concrete canoe races, competitions will include projects involving the mentoring of middle school students, earthquake testing of reinforced concrete ...
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    Questions about this page? Contact:

    Deborah Hill, Director of Communications, 415 Teer Engineering Building, 919-660-8403, dahill@duke.edu