Students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and from South Dakota State University earned the title of Land O’Lakes Bot Shot Champions April 7, 2019, beating out collegiate robotics teams from around the country in the basketball game H-O-R-S-E at a championship event in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin Robotics’ robot competes in the basketball contest. Photo credit: Bruce Kluckhohn/AP Images for Land O’Lakes.In addition to prevailing against other student teams, the bots also took on basketball legends David Robinson and Christian Laettner in a skills challenge.
Land O’Lakes Bot Shot challenged students from seven universities to build a robot capable of mastering shots from a variety of basketball court locations. The program sought to celebrate the talents of students in the fields of science, robotics and engineering and raise awareness of the advanced technology and innovation central to modern agriculture.
UW-Madison and South Dakota State University beat out Iowa State University, North Carolina A&T, Purdue University, University of Florid and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to become co-champions.
The winning schools both received a $10,000 prize from Land O’Lakes. Each team built its robots with materials and supplies provided by Land O’Lakes and AndyMark Inc., a leading mechanical and electrical parts supplier with a focus on robotics education.
“It’s been a crazy past few weeks getting this robot together,” says student Nick Ackerman from Wisconsin-Madison. “We never imagined winning this competition.”