Student-Led Project Takes Top Prize at Design Day
Team 24045 takes home the $7,500 top prize for Most Outstanding Project at Craig M. Berge Design Day.
Team 24045 present their basketball-shooting robot Hoopster.
The College of Engineering's Craig M. Berge Design Day is an annual event where engineering seniors to present the efforts of their yearlong capstone class to the public and hundreds of judges. This year on April 29, students presented their projects that they had designed, prototyped and tested over the last two semesters to compete for $49,000 in prizes.
The $7,500 top prize, the Craig M. Berge Dean’s Award for Most Outstanding Project, went to Team 24045 for Hoopster, a basketball-shooting robot. It was designed to demonstrate engineering concepts in a way that inspires K-12 students to consider careers in the field.
The fully autonomous robot can repeatedly score shots from the free throw line with 90% accuracy. The team continued the work of a group that began the project last year and completely redesigned the plan. But project lead Eric Meyer said the robot has loftier aspirations than just making free throws.
“The purpose is to inspire middle school and high school students in Tucson to become the next generation of engineers and STEM professionals,” said the SIE senior.
Learn more about Hoopster and other student projects at this year's Design Day here.