BSC finishes third at Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition

6/12/2009

(Bluefield)—“Anassa V,” an autonomous ground vehicle developed, designed, programmed, and created by Bluefield State College students, contended for another world championship and finished third, overall, during the recent “2009 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) Autonomous Challenge” at Oakland University, MI. The four-day competition attracted 52 entries from institutions of higher education in the U.S. and abroad.

The BSC student team included Justin Milam, Matthew Duncan, Chris Thompson, Saleh Alobaishi, Justin Pennington, Louis McAllister, and Toni Villanueva. “Our students did an outstanding job,” observed Dr. Robert Riggins, BSC Professor of Electrical Engineering Technology. “They came really close to winning championships in both the autonomous and the navigation challenges. Out of 52 robots from around the world, ours was one of three that competed ‘neck and neck’ in the autonomous race.” It was extremely encouraging, Riggins noted, to see the BSC robot do so well against vehicles developed by teams of students representing major universities and graduate programs. “We placed third in Autonomous, fourth in Land Navigation, and third overall (Lesko Award). “

“We encountered some challenges, like a thunderstorm at the wrong time, interruptions in electrical power, and the constant threat of rain, but our students worked through them,” Riggins continued. “Anassa held first place for about three hours during the final day of the competition. I’m extremely proud of this year’s BSC team. Our students performed very well in a pressure-filled situation.”

The fact that Bluefield State College was the smallest school in the competition and was one of only a very few college or universities there without an engineering graduate school makes our performance even more meaningful,” Riggins concluded.

Sponsors and organizations assisting the BSC student team’s research and participation in the IGVC include: Justin Stiltner, Shawn Anderson, MetalSmithing, Inc, Advanced Auto, Bluewell, ConnWeld Industries, Pemco, Walmart (Bluefield, VA), Miller Associates, and Charlatte America.