It's a simple task, really: Program a robot to find its way through a maze. An electrical and computer engineering (ECE) student could probably do it on a Saturday afternoon. But it's not a mainstream study for mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) students, so Ephrahim Garcia, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has created a course called "mechatronics," which teaches MAE students the basics of using electronics and programming to operate mechanical devices. Next year the course will be required for all MAE students.

The final project in the course is to build and program small robots to find their way through a maze of simulated rocks strewn across a 12-foot-square course painted orange to suggest the landscape of Mars. The final test was held as a competition in the Atrium of Duffield Hall on Dec. 3. About 115 students, working in teams of two or three, participated. A sizeable crowd, mostly other engineering students, gathered to watch the competition, cheering when a robot seemed to be heading for the finish box and groaning whenever one went in the wrong direction.

As with any engineering project, students found themselves making last-minute adjustments, dashing back to the lab or tinkering with their robots on the floor of the atrium.

The robots, about six inches square, use infrared proximity sensors or tactile "feelers" or both. The control unit is a commercial Basic Stamp chip. An overhead camera provides a simulated GPS signal, telling the robots where they are in relation to the start and finish of the maze.

The basic maze-running algorithm is something like "Go toward the finish until you sense an obstacle, then back up, turn a little and go again." But variations make all the difference. Garcia's requirement was that a robot finish in five minutes or less, but the robot built by the winning team of Gabe Newell, Jackie Romero and Frank Keller, all seniors, managed a phenomenal 25 seconds. Their secret: confidence. While most robots moved in short spurts, stopping frequently to check for obstacles, theirs charged ahead until it sensed something, then made a full 90-degree turn and took off again.