Battling robot triumphs on TV

ROBO-CHOP--Kollar, Dawson, and Lunin work on their winning lawn-mowing robot.

team of Rochester students competed to build a robot on demand in three rounds of the DIY Channel's Robot Rivalry. In the first round, the Rochester team, made up of captain Thomas Kollar '04, Geoffrey Dawson '07, and Eric Lunin '04, pictured left to right, were required to build a robot from available parts that would cut a patch of grass without the use of spinning blades or wires.

"It actually ended up being quite a tight race," Kollar says of the three-minute competition against Worcester Polytechnic Institute. "As an educational experience, it was great."

The Rochester team, which was advised by computer science professor Chris Brown, triumphed over the WPI team and advanced to the next round, in an episode airing May 28, where they went up against a team from Iowa State University to catch and contain as many robotic rodents as possible. The team then will compete against Union College in an episode airing June 18.

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