Bama Engineering team wins 2012 NASA Robotic Lunar Mining

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Spreading the Joy of Everything BAMA: ( from the Faculty Advisor) as sent to me through my KC Alum group this morning.</p>

<p>The UA engineering team, consisting of students from Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical engineering, won the 2012 NASA Robotic Lunar Mining championship on Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center. UA won 1st place in a field that consisted of approximately 70 teams from some of the top engineering schools from all over the world (US, India, South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Bangladesh, Columbia).</p>

<p>As the faculty advisor for this team, I can say UA engineering is on the rise and these students represented UA in a top-notch manner in every possible way.</p>

<p>The UA team placed 1st in the presentation category, 1st in team spirit, 2nd in mining, honorable mention (top 3) for innovation for their robot design, and 1st overall.</p>

<p>This is a tough competition having to navigate a robot through simulated Lunar soil having obstacles such as large rocks and craters, then collecting soil and transporting it to a collection bin where it is deposited and weighed. Time limit is 10 minutes.</p>

<p>Details of the competition can be found on youtube, facebook, etc by searching for 2012 NASA Lunabotics Competition. I included a facebook link NASA used to disseminate info related to the competiton. I added the team’s website.</p>

<p>Auburn participated and UA beat them in EVERY CATEGORY!</p>

<p>Alabama Lunabotics
[Alabama</a> Lunabotics](<a href=“http://www.alabamalunabotics.com%5DAlabama”>http://www.alabamalunabotics.com)
Alabama Lunabotics</p>

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<p>Auburn participated and UA beat them in EVERY CATEGORY!</p>

<p>that is the best news ever!</p>

<p>Auburn is totally shaking in their tiger booties that Bama is taking them on in their “claim to fame” turf…engineering. </p>

<p>Roll Tide! :)</p>

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<p>Soon Alabama will be known as an engineering school that happens to have a football team! Roll Tide Roll.</p>

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<p>Congratulations!</p>

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<p>That’s great. Dr. Ricks is one of the reasons my S chose UA. Thrilled for him and the participants!</p>

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<p>Congratulations to the team! Roll Tide !!!</p>

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<p>Proud accomplishment to be sure, and I don’t mean to pour water on it, but none of the top US engineering schools were involved. Wonder how we would have fared amongst the MIT’s of the world.</p>

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<p>^ I thought BAMA beat MIT, Cornell and everyone else in the US.</p>

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<p>List of teams in the competition:</p>

<p>[NASA</a> - Lunabotics Mining Competition](<a href=“http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/kennedy/technology/lunabotics.html]NASA”>NASA Robotic Mining Competition: Lunabotics | NASA)</p>

<p>US Teams </p>

<p>Arizona State University
Auburn University
California State University, Chico
California State University, Sacramento
Colorado School of Mines
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Campus
FAMU/FSU College of Engineering
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida International University
Iowa State University
ITT Technical Institute
John Brown University
Miami University
Middle Tennessee University
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Modesto Junior College
Monroe Community College
Montana State University - Bozeman
Montana Tech of the University of Montana
New Mexico State University
Polytechnic University of NYU
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Temple University
Texas A&M International University
Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
The University of Akron
The University of Alabama
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The University of Texas Pan American
University of Arkansas
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
University of New Hampshire
University of North Dakota
University of North Florida
University of Portland
Virginia Tech
West Virginia University </p>

<p>International Teams </p>

<p>BRAC University - Bangladesh
Islamic University of Technology - Bangladesh
Military Institute of Science and Technology - Bangladesh
Concordia University - Canada
Laurentian University - Canada
McGill University - Canada
York University - Canada
Instituto de Astrobiologa ColombiaIAC - Colombia
Universidad De Los Andes - Colombia
Birla Institute Of Technology, Mesra - India
GITAM University - India
Jaipur National University - India
Kirori Mal College - India
MPSTME, NMIMS - India
Saveetha University - India
Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions, Bhilai - India
Srinivasan Engineering College - India
Universidad Aut</p>

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<p>although many of the tippy top engineering programs didn’t compete, Bama did face some strong competition from some recognized eng’g programs. </p>

<p>UIUC is ranked #6 for engineering. VT is #13. Iowa St, ASU, and Colorado School of Mines all have excellent Eng’g programs. </p>

<p>And, Milwaukee School of Engineering an CSU-Sca are excellent for schools that doesn’t offer PhDs.</p>

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<p>It is heart warming to see that U of A is not just a football school.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Fair question, but you can only compete against the guys who showed up. So, check this out. The 2010 US News & World Report Rankings of the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (where the highest degree is a doctorate) claims this among the schools who competed in the NASA competition:</p>

<p><a href=“6”>quote</a> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(13) Virginia Tech
(40) Iowa State University
(45) Arizona State University
(52) Colorado School of Mines
(56) Auburn University
(78) Polytechnic University of NYU
(78) The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
(78) University of Nebraska - Lincoln
(98) University of Arkansas
(98) West Virginia University
(98) The University of Forrest Gump, er, Alabama

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Those same ranking listed the top 13 nationally as follows:</p>

<p><a href=“1”>quote</a> Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
(2) Stanford University Stanford, CA
(3) University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA
(4) California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
(4) Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
(6) University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL<br>
(7) University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
(8) Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA<br>
(8) Cornell University Ithaca, NY
(8) Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN<br>
(11) Princeton University Princeton, NJ<br>
(11) University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX<br>
(13) Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
(13) Northwestern University Evanston, IL<br>
(13) University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI<br>
(13) Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA

[/quote]
</p>

<p>So, #98 Alabama beat the program ranked higher than all but 5 others in the nation. In addition to the programs listed above, Illinois is considered better than the following, all of whom Alabama is considered poorer than: Rice, Duke, Harvard, Columbia, RPI, Penn, UVA, Vandy, Yale, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, and Washington U.</p>

<p>Well, there you have it, engineering fans. And we’re d*** good in football, gymnastics, golf, softball, and BBQ to boot. </p>

<p>I’m satisfied. Roll Tide!!</p>

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<p>Bama is inching its way up. In 2011, the Col of Eng’g was ranked 95…up 3 spots…next time, who knows?</p>

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<p>^^^Thanks for the update. I didn’t have that data handy. That said . . .</p>

<p>Dear U.S. Snooze & World Report,</p>

<p>Our ranking is ranker than rank.
So let me be franker than frank.
You thought we were hicks,
So we whupped Number 6
And just flushed your lame poll down the tank.</p>

<p>Roll Tide! :)</p>