AME Students' BattleBot Featured by Daily Star

Six students from the College of Engineering are working to create a 250-pound battle robot to compete on the TV show “BattleBots.” Not only is this a lifelong dream for some of them, it's also part of their senior Interdisciplinary Capstone project. The Arizona Daily Star recently featured an article from El Inde Arizona on the students' work, described as a "Herculean task." The students have worked through nearly 20 designs using computer-aided design software (CAD), and they are finally working to bring their robot into the real world.

The capstone team includes mechanical engineering major Alex Wait as the weapons lead and aerospace engineering major Mathias Ramirez overseeing the CAD design and robotics process.

“It’s really a dream come true to have the support to build a BattleBot as a part of a class that I have to do anyway,” Ramirez said in an interview with El Inde Arizona. “It feels a little bit like a cheat code to work with friends on something that you want to do anyways. It’s a lot of fun.”

In addition to being the weapons lead, Wait is also in charge of fundraising and ordering materials. So far, the group has raised more than $45,000 for the project from sponsors.

The robot, named Sting, is planned to be unveiled at the College of Engineering’s Craig M. Berge Design Day on May 1.