College of Engineering | April 7, 2022

ECE Students Dive to Victory in IEEE Robotics Competition

Members of the College of Engineering IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE-RAS), took first place in the IEEE Region 5 Student Robotics Competition this past weekend. The competition took place in Houston, TX during the 2022 IEEE Green Technologies Conference, a forum created for engineers, researchers and specialists from academia, research centers, and industry to discuss the latest developments in applications related to protect the environment.

The IEEE is the world’s largest professional society for electrical engineers and every year coordinates several events for each of its membership regions. The University of Texas at El Paso is in IEEE Region 5, which includes all major universities in the region encompassing 12 states.

The competition challenged undergraduate students David Guereca (ME), Eunize Tobias (EE), Brayan Garcia Pong (EE), Sebastian Oropeza (ME), Alan Melendez (EE), Marco Colmenero (EE), Enrique Ceballos (EE), Adrian Duran (ME), and Jessica Medina (EE) to design, develop, program and operate a robotic vehicle to complete various task underwater. “We were able to create a multi-disciplinary team that was able to surpass all challenges and rise to the top, 1st place. These challenges included designing a robotic ROV that is able to move under water with agility and precision, waterproofing all electronics to survive a harsh environment and designing an electronic system that was able to fit in a small enclosed area while maintaining all control, voltage and current requirements. Countless iterations and testing were completed to make sure all systems performed as expected and were repeatable throughout the competition.” Added Eunize Tobias.

“The competition challenged the team to apply not only what they have learned in the classroom, but also learn problem-solving strategies.” Said Robert C. Roberts, Ph.D., assistant professor and IEEE-RAS team mentor. “Special thanks to Dr. Miguel Velez-Reyes, Electrical and Computer Engineering chair and College of Engineering Interim Dean Dr. Patricia Nava for enabling their extended building access so students could dedicate themselves to this project over holidays and weekends. Our success would not have been possible without the support from Dr. Virgilio Gonzalez, professor of practice and Dr. Laura V. Alvarez College of Science assistant professor for sharing her aquatic robotics expertise and advice on testing robots in the UTEP pools.”

To learn more about IEEE-RAS, please visit: www.utep.edu/engineering/ece