Our team recently took a tour of the Unmanned Systems and Remote Sensing Lab. We saw the coyote bot, a robot made to chase geese off the Engineering Research and Development Center grounds. The team also learned that there were originally two coyote bots, and they were competing against one another, and the cheaper design won! After that, they told us how they find and disable bombs using robots. We then got to see their drones. One was fully autonomous and could fly around and scan the area. Our mentors and team alumni had designed many of the bots and drones we saw. Most recently, the lab has been working on finding broken cracks and parts of train rails easier, making inspecting train tracks much faster and more efficient.

After our tour, we took some time to brush up on our knowledge of electricity. We discussed resistance, how electricity is measured and produced, and many other things. It was a nice refresher for some and an excellent learning opportunity for our new members. Next, our team is off to the composites lab to learn more about building with mixed materials. Keep an eye out for that article that is coming soon.