BCCC students tapped to help ECU students with robot project | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    When industrial technology students at East Carolina University needed help recently with manufacturing parts for an upcoming robotics competition, they knew exactly where to turn - the Machinist Program at Beaufort County Community College.

    That's because the ECU students working on the project were, themselves, graduates of the program.

    Jason Lewis of Pactolus and Juan Esparza of Chocowinity, both 2012 BCCC graduates, are part of a team of ECU students tasked with designing a robot for an Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering Robotic Competition.

    The robot must comply with specifications and rules established by the association for the competition, dubbed "Battle Hoops," to be held Nov. 21 and 22 in New Orleans.
Pictured above, the base of a robot being designed by industrial technology students at East Carolina University shows base plates and axles manufactured by Beaufort County Community College mechanical engineering technology students.
    The robot will have to pick up 36 ping pong balls - both off of a floor and off of a table - separate them by color and place them into color-coded hoops.

    A four-foot-square base for the robot needed omni-directional wheels that would enable it to move forward, backward and sideways without turning.

    And Lewis and Esparza needed aluminum base plates and axles for the base of the robot to make that happen.

    "I knew what the capabilities they had here were," Lewis said of BCCC's Machinist Program.

    So one week in late April, BCCC students John Woodham and John Dodson and Instructor Matthew Lincoln used their expertise manufacturing the two parts for the ECU robot.

    "It's nice to work on something that will be used in real life," said John Dodson, a mechanical engineering technology student from Washington.
Beaufort County Community College student John Dodson manufactures an aluminum axle for a robot being designed by students at ECU: Above.
    Dodson used a lathe and milling machine to manufacture six aluminum shafts while John Woodham of Bath, also a mechanical engineering technology student, used a computer-controlled milling machine to create eight triangular base plates.
Pictured above, John Woodham displays an aluminum base plate he manufactured at Beaufort County Community College from blueprints created by students at East Carolina University: Above.
    In doing this work, the students gained real-life experience evaluating blueprints and working as a team with designers to manufacture parts - experience they will need on the job, Lincoln said. And he hopes this project will lead to other cooperative ventures with ECU in the future.

    Meanwhile, Lewis said, the ECU team still has to design the robotic arm that will place the balls in the hoops and he plans to ask BCCC for help with that part of the project as well.


    Beaufort County Community College is a public comprehensive community college committed to accessible and affordable quality education, effective teaching, relevant training, and lifelong learning opportunities for the people served by the College.