What year did Jesup Scott found The University of Toledo?
Answer the question correctly as 1872 and Rocky the Rocket will celebrate by breaking into the boxy dance moves of the robot. Answer it incorrectly and you’ll disappoint the mascot, who might instead offer a disappointed shake of his space-helmeted head.
Kaitlyn Fortuna, a computer science and engineering senior, and Krishna Agrawal, a computer science sophomore, check out an animatronic Rocky the Rocket during the College of Engineering’s Senior Design Expo.
“The animations were the most fun part of this project,” said Lauren Werlinger, one-fifth of the team that created the animatronic mascot and accompanying quiz kiosk ahead of the College of Engineering’s Senior Design Expo on Friday, Dec. 5. “We spent a lot of time in the lab trying to model different reactions.”
The project was one of approximately 75 demonstrating students’ creativity and ingenuity at the Senior Design Expo, a long-standing tradition and requirement for graduation in the College of Engineering. Senior design projects challenge student teams to apply what they’ve learned in classes and co-ops to tackle real-world challenges, often in collaboration with community partners.
One team developed a device to assist individuals who use wheelchairs into hotel beds in collaboration with the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, for example, while another worked with Rocket Dining and UToledo’s Student Green Fund to implement a system of composting food waste at on-campus dining halls.
A third designed and installed a squirrel obstacle course at the Toledo Zoo.
Seniors Lauren Werlinger and Andrew Pappas, who study computer science and engineering technology, and Aaron Volosin, Jonathan Wroblewski and Eric Burdue, who study mechanical engineering technology, took on Rocky.
Ben Kasper, a mechanical engineering senior, demonstrates his team’s device to assist individuals who use wheelchairs into hotel beds as Ibraheem Oguntade, also a mechanical engineering senior, explains their project to Natalie Frankel and Elaine Stallard during the College of Engineering’s Senior Design Expo.
The multifaceted project began in the computer-aided design software SolidWorks, where the team designed the structural components of the approximately 4-foot mascot. Then they welded together an aluminum frame, bulked it up with 3D-printed “muscles” and outfitted it with a custom-designed fabric space suit.
Along the way they programmed their interactive quiz kiosk. They also perfected the mascot’s reactions to right and wrong answers, scrutinizing how exactly a human shrugs, shakes a head or dances the robot and then translating those sometimes-subtle movements using an animatronic software called Bottango.
“The animations were a challenge because the mascot doesn’t talk,” Pappas said. “He has to convey emotion entirely through movements.”
The team is sponsored by Rook Tec, the fabrication company that Wroblewski, who worked as a welder before enrolling in the College of Engineering, operates in Toledo. They also collaborated with the Office of University Marketing and Communications to ensure proper dimensions and branding for their scaled-down Rocky.
After entertaining a steady stream of visitors during the Senior Design Expo on Friday, the seniors planned to leave their animatronic Rocky with UToledo, in hopes that it can continue to be used for community outreach and engagement.
“That’s the part that really excited me about this project,” Werlinger said. “I love seeing people’s reactions and seeing how excited they get.”
Nolan Lawson, a mechanical engineering senior, explains the carbon fiber filament winder his team designed to his parents Carrie and Adazzio during the College of Engineering’s Senior Design Expo.
