Porter Robotics Team Finishes Second at National Collegiate Championship

UW–Porter Falls’s student robotics team finished second at the national collegiate championship this month, falling in the final round on a scoring tiebreaker after going undefeated through qualifying. The team’s entry, an autonomous robot that identifies and sorts mixed recycling on a moving belt, was built over two semesters by fourteen students from engineering, computing, and design.

The competition scores speed, sorting accuracy, and a design review by industry judges. Porter’s robot posted the highest accuracy of any entry; the final came down to a cycle-time margin of under a second.

“We got beaten by a faster robot, fair and square. We will be faster next year. The design-review score — that we won outright, and that’s the part that gets you hired.”

— team captain

The team is advised by faculty from three colleges and funded through Student Government, the engineering college, and two regional manufacturers who host the team for a summer build week.

Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu