The Robotics Innovations Competition and Conference (RICC) will be held at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute on November 7-8, 2009. The RICC will challenge university-level students to engineer innovative robotic solutions to real-world problems.

The theme of the competition is to improve the quality of life using robots. The competition is open to students enrolled at the undergraduate or graduate level. The emphasis will be on:

• Innovation
• Technical Approach
• Professionalism

** AND THE RICC WINNERS ARE ** as follows:

Click here to see RICC 2009 still pictures

• 1st Place - $5000 - Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Autonomous Shopping Cart (ASC) team - Sponsor: Philip Blackman
• 2nd Place - $2000 - University of Detroit Mercy (SEALE) - Stability Enhanced Autonomous Lift for the Elderly - Sponsor: Bluefin Robotics
• 3rd Place - $1000 - Universidad Panamericana - Panteras RICC team - Autonomous 'nurse' robot - Sponsor: LEGO education North America

• SPECIAL AWARDS
• Judges' Award - for "Innovation Most Affecting the Quality of Life" - Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Automated Interventional Medicine Laboratory - for a robotic system to assist in the surgical procedure of deep brain stimulation
• Neuron Robotics' Award - for "the Most Elegant Solution" - Harvey Mudd College - Spatial Reasoning & Mapping project - for a robot that will be able to handle dynamically changing environments
• National Instruments' Innovation Award - New York City College of Technology - Equilibrium SAMI project - for a robot that has five fingers and mimics the human torso and arm