Oct. 19 – Seven students enrolled in the IT Engineering Department of the University of Parma, led by Dario Lodi Rizzini, research assistant and teacher of the robotics course, participated and won in the Sick Robot Day 2012, held in Waldkirch, Germany. This year’s competition theme laid in the ability of an autonomous robot to identify and pile colored balloons up in an assigned base. 15 teams participated from German, Czech and Italian universities – they challenged one another in an arena with three robots, searching for differently colored balloons. The Parma robot, named Red Beard Button, was able to collect
7 balloons and surpass the robots from Tubinga University and Prague University. Professor Stefano Caselli, director of the Robotics lab in the IT Engineering Department, claims, “robot competitions are an extremely effective instrument to motivate students to deal with complex problems, develop team spirit, and acquire problem solving skills. Even in tough times as these, we have the chance to meet students with great potential and we can help them cooperate in real life productions.”
