The Engineering Open House held March 12 and 13 signaled the return of the 23rd Annual Jerry Sanders Creative Design Competition.
In the competition, college students from around the world competed against each other in a contest about robotic design and engineering.
It is named after Jerry Sanders, 1958 University graduate and co-founder of the technology company called Advanced Micro Devices.
“The competition is a lot of fun for all the teams,” said Jon Hansen, director of the competition and sophomore in Engineering. “It’s a great experience. There are rivalries but there is also a lot of cooperation, camaraderie and excitement.”
Along with the teams, the staff and volunteers showed hard work, making the competition possible, Hansen added.
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“The highlight of the (Engineering Open House) for me was the Jerry Sanders Competition because we are here all day. We work all day Tuesday through Thursday,” he said.
Hansen added that this year’s event committee is made up of freshmen and sophomores. Though the committee may have been inexperienced, he said, this year’s competition was very successful. The committee members learned the ropes while organizing the competition for the various experienced teams competing for the title.
The men of the Pi Tau Sigma fraternity’s team have thought about their design since August and have worked on the building of the robot since February.
“The competition was the best part of this whole experience. Seeing it do well will be very worth it,” said Chris Delaney, sophomore in Engineering and Pi Tau Sigma team member.
Dale Magliola, junior in Engineering and team member, said the team named its robot after Rachel McAdams, who gave its members inspiration during their long nights working on the robot.
The team members said that next year they hope to gain more ground with their robot design and are anxious to triple this year’s success.
The Jerry Sanders competition was only one of many exhibits held at the open house this year. Gavin Rehkemper, director of the Engineering Open House and senior in Engineering, said there was a record number of exhibits this year.
