Student engineers from two colleges or universities square off to build radio-controlled robots that are capable performing a specific task. Each team -- assisted by a single robotics expert -- has a single day to build a robot from scratch materials. At the end of the day the two robots battle it out in a timed match.
In episode 207, teams from Union College and Dartmouth College are asked to design and build a robot that can rake leaves and capture them on board the robot. Union designs a robot with a combine mechanism consisting of sheet metal fins riveted to attachment chain, while Dartmouth designs a robot with a series of fans to vacuum leaves up through ductwork into a quick-release leaf bag. Both robots come together late in the day, but Union’s Dutch Box bags the win, and Dartmouth’s Mega Maid has to make like a tree. Union advances to the next round of competition and one step closer to the two-thousand-dollar scholarship.
