Engineering students ready for battle

Students heading to San Francisco to compete in Comedy Central program

The Saluki Dawgs, cheerleaders and even women’s basketball players cheered for the SIU Robots Team Friday for a segment of Comedy Central’s Battlebots program.

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The Battlebots competition will take place May 22 to 27 in San Francisco, where the team will compete against more than 500 other robots. This is the biggest competition the program has had since its start in 1998.

SIUC alumnus Bil Dwyer, commentator for the program, visited campus with a production crew to shoot a segment about the team, which includes three engineering students.

James Potter, a sophomore in mechanical engineering from Paducah, Ky., started the SIU Robots Team three months ago. The SIU Robots Team, which stands for Savage Innovations Utilizing Robots, will be represented by Potter, Lloyd Bantner, a junior in mechanical engineering from Carbondale, and Tom Ingram, a junior in electrical engineering from Winfield.

In the competition, the top 32 robots will go to the final round, depending on points the robot receives for battling and destroying its opponent. The robot can include such weapons as claws and spikes. Points are earned by carrying their rival to the hazard or ramming a spike through the steel. Hazards, such as kill saws, are used to destroy the robots.

Potter wanted to start the team because he wanted to exercise his knowledge about engineering.

It gives us an opportunity to take dry book learning from engineering class and put it to use, Potter said.

The 115-pound robot, which is made of light steel and is powered by two wheelchair motors, will compete in the middle weight class.

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Ingram wants the robot to look tough and mean with the weapons they add to it.

The remote-controlled robot, which is not yet complete, stands a foot off the ground and will be covered with light steel. Although it is small, it can stand up to a beating, which Potter demonstrated by standing on the robot.

If the robot is successful in its weight class, the team has a chance to win a cash prize and bring back a large metal nut trophy.

Dwyer, who graduated in 1984 with a degree in radio-television, visited Carbondale Thursday and Friday. He was excited to be on campus to tape students from his school to be on the show.

Wearing an SIU T-shirt, Dwyer was accompanied by Saluki Dawgs and the SIUC cheerleaders to send off the team behind the Engineering Building. While chanting SIU, the students high-fived the members of the team, wishing them good luck in the competition.

I’m not supposed to be biased or anything, but I hope they kick some royal ass, Dwyer said.