Earlier this month I joined SPC Science Professor Erin Goergen and two SPC STEM Scholarship students who plan to transfer to a university, for a first-hand look at what it is like to work in university lab.

We joined other students and toured three laboratories at the University of South Florida guided by USF Engineering student Erick Altamirano. The SPC students included Luis Benavides and Erica Romero. We were all given USF Engineering T-Shirts and were briefed by Bernard Bertrand about our tours.

Touring the Design X Lab

Our first lab was the Design X Lab in ENB 110. We were met by Michael Clestin, PHD, the manager of the lab. He gave us a tour of the lab by starting with 4 different 3-D printers, moving to a laser cutter for wood projects. Next, he showed us a plastic machining tool for cutting away plastic–the opposite of building plastic which is how 3-D printers work. We moved on to several circuit board building benches. As we circled the lab, he explained his invention, an art easel with drawing pen and several pulleys to draw any image displayed on his laptop screen. As we were exiting the lab, he explained the copper coated towers were a Tesla coil machine that were used at a Halloween party last year.

Demonstration of Assistive and Robotics Lab

We then walked to the Assistive and Robotics lab in the next building, ENG 19A. Here we saw a demonstration of MoboRobot (the yellow bottom) and another robot (the red one with “arms”) that they called franken robot. The bottom allowed the robot to move, the top allowed picking up of objects, a cereal bar box, and placing the box in a new location. There were several other robots the group were working on for persons with disabilities. (http://carrt.eng.usf.edu)

Next, we went to ENG 122-B to see a soccer playing robot. We also saw the qualifying robots for roboCup 2016. Martine from Uruguay was our guide in the lab.

Robot Perception and Action Lab

Last, we visited the Robot Perception and Action Lab (RPAL) where we saw a drone demonstration and the destruction trying to catch a drone falling out of a tree can do. Troy, from St. Thomas, had two fingers on his right hand and his left wrist and arm bandaged due to cuts from the propellers.

Editor’s note: Darlene Westberg is a professor in SPC’s College of Computer and Information Technology and an SPC graduate. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Computers and Management from Eckerd College and a Master’s Degree from the University of South Florida.