Student-Built Robots Are Eggbeaters for a Day

A usual goal in boxing is to hit your opponent in the noggin, but not to break his head.

The goal of this boxing match is to hit an opponent in the egg, and break out the nog! Those accomplishing that will earn more than the title of eggbeaters.

But before you run and seek head gear (or shelter) you should know it's robots who'll be the combatants putting their eggs on the line at the first-ever fighting-robots match at Rochester Institute of Technology, 10 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 21.

The battery-powered, radio-controlled fighters were designed and built by 10 teams of first- and second-year manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology students at RIT. The robots, which cost around $200 each to build (that's not counting eggs, which recently went for 59¢ a dozen on sale), are loosely based on those in Comedy Central's Battle Bots.

Students have one goal for the contest: defending their robot's egg while attacking their opponent's. With names like "Shocker" and "Wedgie," combatants will emerge from their boxing-ring corners and do battle in 3-minute-long rounds in the lobby of the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies building on the RIT campus.

First-, second- and third-place winners of the contest–those successfully defending their eggs–will earn campus bookstore gift certificates. But even more impressive, they'll earn the title of eggbeaters!