Milligan is the first in the region to offer a collegiate robotics team. Students who are on the pioneering team are given tools to construct remote operated vehicles (ROVs) capable of underwater navigation. Milligan’s robots will be going up against other ROVs created by middle and high school students in the region during the 2020 Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) competition in June.
In 2019, Dr. Teresa Carter, professor of information systems, was selected to be a judge for the programming section of the Appalachian Highlands MATE Regional competition. After judging the regional competition, Carter’s interest piqued, and she decided to judge the international competition in Kingsport, Tennessee which consisted of 74 teams from 18 countries. “I fell in love with the whole entire program,” said Carter.
After judging the international competition in 2019, Carter wanted to return to the MATE competitions, but this time to coach instead of judge. Thus, the first collegiate robotics team in the region was founded.
The team consists of nine students with three faculty advisors. All team advisors are allowed to provide knowledge and encouragement in every aspect of the MATE competition, but are prohibited from touching or assisting in building the ROVs at any point.
“The students are given the resources to build the ROV. They get hands-on experience, to work as a team and to compete in an uplifting environment,” said Dr. Ian Lundholm, assistant professor of mathematics.
Lundholm further explained how the Milligan robotics team is in the beginning phase of its journey and still has much to learn. To prepare for his mentor position and to help students, Lundholm read a 700-page underwater robotics textbook over Christmas break. “I’m a technology nerd so this kind of experience excites me.”
Carter and Lundholm are not the only people putting in time and effort to learn about underwater robotics; the Milligan students involved on this team are “somewhat sacrificial with their time” according to Lundholm. Currently, the robotics team does not receive scholarships or credit hours because it is a new program. Regardless of scholarships and credit hours, the students remain eager to learn, build and have fun.
“They are the pioneers here,” said Lundholm. “We have a really good pool of talent.” The team is looking for additional members because of its corporate structure. There are various “departments” such as: finance, marketing, technology, engineering and coding.
Freshman Haley Brannan is an Information Systems major with a minor in Graphic Design and is one of two female students on the robotics team; both women are freshmen. This is not new to Brannan as she was the only female in her engineering and technology classes throughout high school.
“I consider myself a very nerdy person, I’m like a computer witch,” said Brannan. She is proficient in Python, a programming language created for the quick integration of systems, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software, used to create two and three-dimensional models of physics components. Brannan will use Python to code a language used to communicate with the ROV and the CAD software to digitally build an object that will eventually be created by a 3-D printer.
“I think we are going to do really well this year. I’m so excited,” said Brannan. Programming is the most exhilarating aspect of building a ROV for her, and her personal goal this year is for the team to make it past the regional competition in June.
The Milligan robotics team is currently laying the foundation for future team members. They look forward to seeing more people join and hope to score high at regionals and make it to the international competition one day. Looking towards the future of the robotics team, Milligan anticipates their impact on neighboring colleges and universities by encouraging them to start their own teams as well.
Headline photo: This ROV, named Delilah, was created by Dr. Teresa Carter in October, 2019, and it taught the coaches how to build a basic ROV.