ND at Valpo (Robotic Football)

ValpoFan · September 16, 2015, 09:37:13 AM

The Valparaiso University is hosting the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame University for a robotic football game.
Please join us to cheer our students to victory.
Admission is FREE!

When: Sunday Sept, 20 @ 1pm.
Where: The Athletic Recreation Center

This is a family event. After the game, fans (including little ones) will be invited to come on the floor and drive the robots around.

momofalex · September 16, 2015, 11:46:02 AM

We attended this last spring and it was great! If anyone is on campus it's worth watching.

ValpoFan · September 16, 2015, 02:00:57 PM

Thanks for the plug momofalex.
This year will be even better. It is ND rather than Purdue-Kokomo and most importantly, the game will be played in the main Gym in the ARC.

ValpoFan · September 19, 2015, 12:28:57 PM

^^ Bump!

covufan · September 19, 2015, 03:31:35 PM

My wife asked if this game will be on NBC?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Brandon · September 20, 2015, 01:10:19 PM

Quote from: covufan on September 19, 2015, 03:31:35 PMMy wife asked if this game will be on NBC? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No NBC, but WVUR is providing what is believed to be the first ever play-by-play radio broadcast of a robot football game.

agibson · September 21, 2015, 05:11:09 PM

Quote from: Brandon on September 20, 2015, 01:10:19 PM
Quote from: covufan on September 19, 2015, 03:31:35 PMMy wife asked if this game will be on NBC? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No NBC, but WVUR is providing what is believed to be the first ever play-by-play radio broadcast of a robot football game.

Nice!

The event, again this year, was a lot of fun. The report was 500+ in attendance. The chairbacks weren't full, by any means, but a solid slug of humanity was attendance. Great to see students, faculty, and lots of kids: boys and girls. The student participants were very generous with their time after. A very nice project, and lots of fun to drive!

Final score was in the vicinity of Valpo 85 - Notre Dame 40.

I had a good chat with the Notre Dame adviser - he was very impressed with how far Valpo's come just a couple of years into the sport.

I didn't ask, but wish I had, how much he attributed to their robot design, and how much to their football know-how and on-field performance.

Great fun to have multiple non-robotic football players involved with the robots. And, always fun to see former students (e.g. freshmen labs) and current Physics majors in action.

(Time to move the football indoors, turn it over to the robots, and give Brown field to the soccer teams?)

agibson · September 21, 2015, 05:13:00 PM

I also heard murmurings of more activity this year. Some talk of as many as eight teams in the area? Possibly a tournament. Not sure about a league.

VULB#62 · September 21, 2015, 06:43:04 PM

Quote from: agibson on September 21, 2015, 05:11:09 PM

Final score was in the vicinity of Valpo 85 - Notre Dame 40.

I had a good chat with the Notre Dame adviser - he was very impressed with how far Valpo's come just a couple of years into the sport.

I didn't ask, but wish I had, how much he attributed to their robot design, and how much to their football know-how and on-field performance.

Great fun to have multiple non-robotic football players involved with the robots. And, always fun to see former students (e.g. freshmen labs) and current Physics majors in action.

(Time to move the football indoors, turn it over to the robots, and give Brown field to the soccer teams?)

Thoughts:

We kicked major BUTT!

Difference twixt ND and VU: our engineers play football, theirs play Mind Craft/Doom/whatever.

BUT... then comes ROBOT SOCCER. By that time everyone will be living on recliners, weigh 600 lbs,. and will be fed intravenously

VU75 · September 21, 2015, 07:31:25 PM

Robert Morris Chicago actually offers athletic scholarships for computer gaming. With all the health issues of football would it be a stretch to wonder if some day NFL and college games may become computer generated and the first draft pick may come out of MIT.

ValpoFan · September 21, 2015, 10:02:19 PM

That's correct. The plan is for ND to host the inaugural national championship of robotic football in April. The goal is for the bracket to include 8 teams.

VULB#62 · September 21, 2015, 10:20:34 PM

Wow! We could be national champs!

agibson · April 15, 2016, 08:52:02 PM

[tweet]721140450791436288[/tweet]

Speaking of national champions.

(Maybe only four teams? But some lopsided margins!)

valpotx · April 15, 2016, 10:13:24 PM

Yay nerds!!

agibson · April 24, 2016, 12:55:38 AM

Quote from: valpotx on April 15, 2016, 10:13:24 PM
Yay nerds!!

I trust that's complimentary.

valpotx · April 24, 2016, 07:50:59 PM

Yes, it was complimentary AND funny

VUOR63 · April 25, 2016, 06:19:07 PM

Do any of the real football players play on the robotic football team? I think there are some mechanical engineers on the football team.

valpotx · April 25, 2016, 07:43:48 PM

I believe that Jake Hutson is on the team.

VULB#62 · April 25, 2016, 08:41:13 PM

There were a couple more too. Just don't know who right now. If someone wants to dig into the FB Twitter site the names would surface I'm sure.

ValpoFan · April 25, 2016, 10:15:08 PM

Jake Hutson was on the team but he graduated in December.
This last team included the following engineering students:
John Guilford, Alex Kozlowski, Aaron Brunner, and Branden Slattery.