'What Duke is to basketball, Lake State is to robotics'

For a third time in five years, a team of students from Lake Superior State University has won the top prize in a robotics and automation competition.

Recent graduates Jamie Chinn of Caro and Donovan Kennedy of Toronto (shown with LSSU faculty adviser James Devaprasad) placed first at the 2002 International Mechanical Engineering Congress in New Orleans. The following is the full text of a release distributed tonight by LSSU:

**************************************************************** Students take first place at international competition

SAULT STE. MARIE - Lake Superior State University engineering students continued a line of award-winning senior project presentations, this time with a first place finish at the 2002 International Mechanical Engineering Congress in New Orleans.

Recent graduates Donovan Kennedy of Toronto and Jamie Chinn of Caro took first place and a $1000 award during the Student Manufacturing Design Competition at the conference.

The competition was part of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International annual congress and exposition that had an attendance of more than 4,000 participants.

The LSSU team was one of seven finalists selected from various worldwide university entries.

Competitors included University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Gonzaga University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of North Carolina, and two teams from Shanghi Jiao Tong University, China.

Second place was awarded to the Shanghai team with U. of North Carolina at Charlotte receiving third.

Last year's winning team was from the University of Florida.

The 3,000-word winning paper entitled, "The Assembly of Inner Tie Rods Using Robotics and Automation," was prepared from the work of the 2001-02 senior project team, Integrated Automation Solutions.

This is faculty advisor Jim Devaprasad's third time on the winner's platform with a senior project presentation.

This year's winners join the 2000-01 team, Complete Engineering for Process Automation, and Dream Designs from 1998-99, both taking first place at Robotic Industries Association Scholarship Competitions.

"What Duke is to basketball, Lake State is to robotics. We have hard-working faculty and students who believe in themselves and produce work that is of excellent quality," said Devaprasad.

"It's also a matter of expectations. They have to be set higher than the students think they can attain. In the end, they surprise themselves at just how much they can accomplish."

"LSSU robotics and automation is excelling at the international level as witnessed by Jamie and Donovan's success in this competition," said Ray Adams, dean of the LSSU College of Engineering and Mathematics.

"This is the third time in five years that a team of LSSU engineering and technology students has earned the top spot in a robotics and automation competition.

Such success is a tribute to Jim Devaprasad, who has been one of the key individuals in the development of the robotics and automation program."

The 2001-02 industrial project was produced for Dana-Cleveland, a branch of Dana Corporation, which manufactured and assembled automotive chassis components.

The paper described the design of the workcell, part feeders, and robot end-of-arm-tooling; 3D and discrete event simulation; and testing and results of a prototype workcell.

ASME is a non-profit educational and technical organization with more than 125,000 members worldwide, making up 441 sections, or chapters.

LSSU's ASME student group is one of 218 college chapters.

For more information about ASME, visit www.asme.org.