Project: Build a robot
Product used: DryLin N

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For the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) SoutheastCon 2006, an educative conference that provides students with various engineering-focused challenges from writing to robotics to t-shirt design, students from Mississippi State University designed and built an autonomous robot.

The Mississippi State students competed against 64 other teams, each challenged to build an autonomous robot to work as a package-loading system for FedEx. The robots had to be capable of:

1. extracting a package from a chute;
2. reading a barcode affixed to the package;
3. determining the correct airplane the package should be loaded onto; and
4. properly loading the package onto the appropriate plane.

The University of Mississippi robot used a DryLin® N linear guide system donated by igus® to accomplish some of the tasks listed above. DryLin N supported the load of the packages and also enabled linear motion on the robot, which was essential for both picking up and placing the packages.