It is with great pleasure that I announce that the UAF MicroMouse team once again defeated all competitors in the combined IEEE NW and NE Area MicroMouse Contest held in Boise, ID.  In fact the UAF MicroMouse, named 55414632, which is ASCII for UAF2, was the only mouse to find the center of a difficult maze.  The goal of a MicroMouse contest is for a small robot (named a MicroMouse) to autonomously navigate a previously unseen maze (16 x 16 grid cells) and find its way to the center.  The fastest time to the center wins.  With the open contest rules, there are numerous design possibilities which include many tasks, such as:  multiple navigation schemes, sensor issues, power concerns, hardware/software tradeoffs/compatibilities, and mechanical knowledge.  The UAF MicroMouse team this year consisted of Steven Kibler, Devin Boyer and Andrew Hauer.  For their winning mouse, they received a check of $500 from IEEE.  It should be noted that a UAF MicroMouse has won this multi-area contest the last 3 years.

Charles E. Mayer
Associate Dean for Academics, College of Engineering and Mines
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering