The Competitive Robotics Club at Sacramento State hosted their annual November Robot Rumble Sunday from noon – 6 p.m. in the University Union.

During the competition, some of the officers of the club, computer engineering senior Steven Brimer and civil engineering junior Bryant Ho, presented what the club does. They also showed YouTube clips of the competitive robotics show “Battle Bots” and garnered support for the club, but this year, the turnout wasn’t what they hoped for.

Brimer said he believes club participation has dropped is because of the numerous rules the club has to abide by to be able to construct robots.

“(Club turnout has decreased due to) safety concerns constricting the use of tools used to create the robots,” Brimer said. “It is very difficult to get students motivated to join the club due to safety precautions getting in the way of getting stuff done.”

Ho said he believes the club helps and encourages with their classes.

“(The club) motivates engineering majors to keep going in their field right at the time that they need motivation,” Ho said.

Ho said he is more motivated in his own classes because of the club. Ho also said he really enjoys working the on the robots and setting them up for competitions.

The Competitive Robotics Club competes in other competitions such as another competition hosted by NASA, but Robot Rumble is one of the hardest ones the club competes in because of the numerous requirements each robot must have. The club’s robots have to meet certain specifications such as vehicle mass and dust tolerance. Other requirements include a ban from using certain materials, such as rubber pneumatic tires, open/closed cell foam and hydraulics.

The club will be hosting Engineering Expo, its main event of the school year in February and will feature many of the engineering clubs on campus, such as Night with Industry and Engineers Without Borders. The event will bring in students from surrounding k-12 schools and teaching them about engineering as well as focusing on the engineering clubs on campus.

Beth Jones can be reached at [email protected]