Pokebots Go!

It's no surprise that the theme of this quarter's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 3 (MAE3) robot competition was Pokemon Go - students were charged with building robots that could loft balls into a laser-cut Pokestop for points. Team W.H.O. beat out more than 40 other teams to get to the semi-finals with their unique design.

The team, consisting of second year physics major John-Paul Pascual, second year political science major Alex Velazquez, second year aerospace major Goutham Marimuthu and third year mechanical engineering major Kevin Tsao, used sheet metal to create a wall that traveled along a rail and prevented the other team's robot from accessing the balls.

When one team went around the wall, team W.H.O. simply moved their robot forward and dropped the sheet metal which opened like a pair of wings to prevent the other team's robot from depositing the balls at the Pokestop. Check out their website for more on the design!

Team W.H.O. lost in the semifinals to another team with that used a blocking mechanism - one that prevented their own from working.

"We had a lot of diversity in the robots this year," said MAE3 instructor Nate Delson. "I'm proud of all of our students and mentors."

Mentors and winning teams were provided with custom, 3D-printed trophies.

Also unique to the competition this year were the controllers, designed and fabricated by summer interns in the EnVision Arts and Engineering Maker Studio, with the help of the MAE Department.