MassRobotics Form & Function Robotics Challenge participants will be showcasing their prototypes on the Robotics Summit & Expo floor.

The challenge called for university teams to create a robotics project that delivers a compelling form factor specific to its tasks while accomplishing a useful function. The challenge was open to participants affiliated with universities around the globe. It also encouraged collaboration between state-of-the-art software and hardware providers, including MassRobotics strategic partners Onshape, Lattice Semiconductor, Nano Dimension, Danfoss, Festo, Novanta and Analog Devices.

The challenge requires selected applicants to use the offerings from a minimum of two of the seven partners. Examples of the offerings available to participants included:

• Lattice Semiconductor: FPGA technology with their solution stack for a machine vision camera
• Onshape: cloud-native CAD platform
• Nano Dimension: 3D printed circuit boards and design review
• Festo: vacuum gripper kit and electrical actuators
• Novanta: drives, inductive position encoders, RFID
• Danfoss: remote control and PLUS+1 controllers

The grand prize of $25,000, along with $5,000 prizes for second and third place, will be announced at noon on May 11 on the Robotics Summit expo floor. All attendees will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite team, and the winner will receive a $5,000 Audience Choice Award. Information about voting will be given as part of your registration.

The following universities will be participating in the Form & Function Challenge: