Student engineers from two colleges or universities square off to build radio-controlled robots that are capable performing a specific task. Each team -- assisted by a single robotics expert -- has a single day to build a robot from scratch materials. At the end of the day the two robots battle it out in a timed match.
In episode 212, the Union College Dutchmen and the University of Rochester Yellowjackets are asked to design and build a robot that can (1) navigate through a vegetable patch and (2) harvest and contain vegetables on board. Union designs a robot with a motorized arm and pneumatic pincers to pull up crops and deposit them into a meshed basin, while Rochester builds a robot with an actuating grate that sifts out vegetables and a chained, spinning agitator to clear accumulated soil into a sieve-like hopper. Design problems and last-minute modifications plague the Yellow Jackets, while the Dutchmen work efficiently and have plenty of time for testing. In the final competition, Rochester's "Happy Harvester" performs more like a salad shooter as Union's "Scorpion" runs away with a load of vegetables and a decisive victory. Rochester has to return home with the sting of defeat, while Union double-dutches to the championship round of Robot Rivals where they'll battle for the J.F. Engelberger Trophy and a $2000 scholarship.
