9 September 2004

Robots battle in grand challenge

Photo opportunity: (students with robots in action) 2.00pm, Thursday 9 September, Applied Computing Microcentre, University of Dundee

Intelligent robots made from Lego are doing battle today - in an academic sense - at the University of Dundee's Applied Computing Division. The robots were built and programmed by students undertaking the University’s ASPIRE Summer School course in computing.

As part of their introduction to computing, the students had to build a robot and write three programs to enable their creation to perform three different challenges - finding a doorway in a wall, pushing empty cans out of a marked arena and finally an obstacle race over a marked course.

The participants on the course included one of the first students entering the University's brand new degree programme in e-commerce, one of the fastest growing sectors in computing. This new course is one reason why the Applied Computing Division has seen a 10% increase in student applicants in 2004.

Iain Murray, one of the lecturers on the course, said "Although the robots are made from Lego, the challenge that we set the students is an excellent test of their new programming skills and their ingenuity".

The ASPIRE course, which is run by the University's Wider Access Study Centre, is designed to help potential undergraduates prepare for university-level study and introduces students to the many facets of the University.

For further information, please contact:
Iain Murray, Applied Computing Division, University of Dundee.
(01382) 344155 Fax: (01382) 345509
e-mail: irmurray@computing.dundee.ac.uk

By Angela Durcan, Press Officer 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, a.durcan@dundee.ac.uk