Engineering students place first in firefighting robot competition

The University of Akron College of Engineering’s Undergraduate Robotics Team ExasQuad: The Rock Lobster came out ahead of all the other 48 competing teams in the Fire Fighting Robot Senior Division of the Trinity College Firefighting Robot Contest in Hartford, Conn. last month. University team members Kevin Jones, Michael Prechel and Michael Wallen, all electrical engineering majors, and Corey Smith, a computer engineering major, designed and constructed the winning autonomous firefighting robot. This was UA’s first such victory in more than three years.

UA’s team competed against students from Penn State, Polytechnic Institute of New York, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, the University of New Hampshire, universities abroad and practicing engineers, according to Dr. Tom Hartley, professor of electrical and computer engineering and team adviser.

About the College of Engineering

The UA College of Engineering is the fourth fastest growing college of engineering in the country (among the 150 largest; source: American Society for Engineering Education) and the fastest growing in the state. The college’s current 2,142 undergraduate enrollment represents a 54.9 percent increase in students between fall 2004 and fall 2009.

Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.