During the STI robot competition, five teams of three master students from different sections of the STI faculty have to design, build and program a cleaning robot. The realized robots must be able to autonomously move in a 64 m² arena that features obstacles and different terrains, while detecting and gathering empty PET bottles, which should then be brought to a specific recycling area. The competition is implemented as a regular semester project during the spring semester.
The project is a unique opportunity to learn and practice several skills that are often asked for by employers: hands-on expertise in several domains (electronics, mechanics, programming, etc.), project management, budget management, interacting with workshops and suppliers, working in a multidisciplinary team.
This project is part of the Discovery Learning program of EPFL.