Robots are coming

A traffic controller for the dreaded Ferris staircase and musical stairs in Mudd? It sounds too good to be true, but these big ideas will soon become reality thanks to ESC’s Project Grants initiative. ESC was so impressed with the seven applications they received that after a thorough review of the proposals, they decided to fund all seven projects. Bwog can’t wait to see what these teams come up with.

The projects:

• A desperately needed Ferris traffic controller: This team plans to install motion detectors to alert dining hall-goers of impending staircase collisions.
• Piano stairs: This sounds like something out of Bwog’s most fantastical dreams. Motions sensors on an undetermined Mudd staircase will allow passersby to play music by trotting up and down the stairs.
• CoderPrep: The team plans to launch a website and app to help computer science students practice interview skills and get jobs. Someone should really be making one of these for humanities majors…
• Mech Warfare Robot: A “bipedal, turret-equipped robot capable of competing in the Mech Warfare Robotics Competition” sounds a little dystopian to us. Impressive, nonetheless.
• Electric Go-Kart: The human-driven go-kart will be fully electric. We’re all about those green sources of energy. Bwog hopes we’ll be allowed to take it for a test drive.
• Foldable quadracopter: Apparently a video-equipped quadracopter, a small aerial vehicle with four rotors, is in the works. No, the engineers are not collaborating with the NSA, so they say.

As usual, our classmates are working on some exciting things. We can’t wait to see the projects in real life.

What the engineers are actually building via Shutterstock