The third annual SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition (AVC) was held by SparkFun Electronics.
Both teams and individuals from across the country participated in the robotics competition. The competitors used their homegrown ground and aerial vehicles to race around the company headquarters. In spite of inclement weather, the event attracted almost 700 visitors, with 50 teams competing in the meet.
According to AnnDrea Boe, the Director of Marketing in SparkFun, every year customers are constantly amazing them by bringing in incredible vehicles. The vehicles, which participated in the race, ranged from standard remote control cars to quadcopters, which are helicopters with four blades having exceptional control and speed. The most remarkable vehicle seen this year was an electric wheelchair altered into a dinosaur, which had a height of 8 feet. The ground division was won by Team Tobor with a timing of 26 sec and the aerial category was won by Team Robota for the second time.
Other awards were presented to the most entertaining vehicle, Crowd Pleaser; the Engineers’ Choice award for the best design vehicle; the Rookie award for best newcomer; the Best Dressed for the best dressed team or vehicle, the Water Hazard Award for the vehicle that went into the pond and also the Kill Switch Award for the most dangerous vehicle.
Nathan Seidle, CEO and Founder of SparkFun, had initially begun this event on the basis of a friendly bet between his engineers to find out who would build the best autonomous vehicle. Thereafter, Seidle realized the immense potential and opportunity available for the SparkFun Community to get together and then opened it for the public. Innovation and progress in DIY electronics is also greatly encouraged. The company has great hopes for the future events and have already started planning for the next year’s AVC.
Source: http://www.sparkfun.com