Engineering students win unmanned ground vehicle competition – again

Students' consistent performance at the annual event reflects their engagement in engineering science, one of the top 10 degree programs at FLCC.

FLCC engineering students won first place for the fourth straight year in the 2025 Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Competition sponsored by the New York State Two-Year Engineering Science Association.

The event was held on April 25 at Monroe Community College (MCC) with seven teams from four institutions: Finger Lakes, Monroe, and Hudson Valley community colleges and Syracuse University.

FLCC entered two teams into the competition for the first time. Joshua Bell, technical specialist for science and technology, coached the teams with support from Selim Araci, professor of engineering.

"Our students showed incredible collaboration, creativity, and determination," Bell said. "They not only performed well under pressure but earned the respect and recognition of everyone at the competition. Their success is a testament to their hard work and resilience. I’m super proud of what they have accomplished."

This year’s challenge tasked students with designing and building an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle capable of following a floor line and shooting ping-pong balls through hoops of decreasing size, all within 60 seconds.

The two autonomous ground vehicles FLCC students designed and built for the competition.

The winning team, named Deep-Fried Microchips, finished with a commanding lead over the next highest-scoring team. Patrick R. Burns of Victor captained the team of Matthew Walsh of Seneca Falls, John Pierce of Victor, Michael K. Wales of Wolcott, and Joe Roberts of Henrietta. This project was completed as part of their engineering design coursework.

With their first-place finish secured, the team pushed the limits during their third and final run by maximizing the robot’s speed and achieving a perfect performance in just 10.9 seconds, an extraordinary accomplishment that had the crowd cheering.

FLCC’s second team, named No Aim Bot, was led by Winter Lenhard of Prattsburgh, with teammates Thomas Ouimette of Canandaigua, Gabriella Telesca of Dansville, Edward W. Reed of Penn Yan, and Dexter Ernest of Farmington.

Despite a last-minute change that prevented them from using their calibrated ping-pong balls and limited their time to readjust, they secured a fourth-place finish. Without this setback, they would have been well-positioned to challenge their classmates for the top spot, Araci said. This team competed as part of the Victor Campus Center-based Engineering and Technology Club.

Engineering science is among the top 10 degree programs at FLCC with 113 students enrolled as of fall 2024.

Learn more about engineering science.