News Release
UDM Engineering Team SEALE places second in competition
The first annual Robotics Innovation Competition and Conference (RICC) was held recently at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. The intercollegiate competition challenged undergraduate and graduate students to develop a robotic technology that would improve the quality of life. This year, the UDM team composed of five engineering students entered the competition and won second place.
Team SEALE consisted of electrical engineering students Ray Slowik, Ali Ashgar and Jun Chen, along with mechanical engineering students Mark Fazi and Obafemi “Femi” Osunfisan. Their faculty advisors were UDM professors Sandy Yost, Mohan Krishnan and Nassif Rayess. SEALE serves as an acronym for the team’s project: Stability Enhanced Assistive Lift for the Elderly. The robotic device they created was built to assist physically challenged or disabled individuals to transition from a seated position to standing.
The UDM students were awarded a check for $2,000 along with a plaque for their efforts. Eleven teams competed in the competition, 10 from the United States and one from Mexico. The KERN Entrepreneurship Education Network grant and the RICC conference sponsored the travel and parts that were used for the competition.
For more in-depth information, rules and contact information, visit the RICC web site at http://ricc.wpi.edu/index.html.
Release date: November 24, 2009
# # #
