Engineering students from UCD have unveiled their rugby robots that will compete in the 10th annual Siemens RoboRugby Competition.

The competition involves the challenge of designing and building a robot from scratch, using thousands of individual pieces, and then programming it to compete against other robots in the game of RoboRugby.

The custom-designed robots are equipped with sensors, which they can use to find their way around the playing table and also to find the balls to bring them to the try line and score points.

The robots cannot be controlled remotely and must rely solely on sensors and programming.

This year, 62 students in 21 teams took up the challenge and will take each other on in 41 short matches, with a robot having to lose twice to be knocked out of the tournament. The final is being held this evening in the Clinton Auditorium in the UCD Belfield Campus, Dublin.

“Siemens RoboRugby is about challenging students to think conceptually and strategically,” said Michael O’Connor, Communications Manager for Siemens in Ireland.

"We have supported RoboRugby for a number of years as part of our programme to engage and encourage young people to consider careers in engineering. Every year we are in awe of the immense talent and creativity of the students with the challenges set even greater each year.

"The conceptual and problem solving thinking I have seen gives me great confidence in the future of the Irish engineers talent pool

Brian Mulkeen, UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering, said: “The Siemens RoboRugby Competition gives engineering students a great opportunity to develop the design and innovation skills that will be essential in their professional careers.

"The game of RoboRugby presents a variety of design challenges, with many possible solutions. Each team starts with the same set of parts, so creating a winning design requires some ingenuity.

"I’m always impressed by the range of different solutions that the students devise, and we won’t know until this evening which one will win.”

Online Editors