Neil Kennedy, Ben Werner, Britt Hammerberg and Cory Tranby show off their paintball-blastin' UGV.

Here’s a new way to play paintball

Student teams from the University of St. Thomas and St. Cloud State University will engage in a demonstration tomorrow that pits their robot-like Unattended Ground Vehicles ( UGVs) against each other in a friendly paintball competition.

The teams will meet on the paintball course from 11 a.m. to 2 pm. Friday, April 29, at the Northern Palms Sports Center, 14160 James Road, in Rogers.   Everyone’s welcome.

St. Thomas’ team consists of four students from the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics course that Dr. Tom Sturm, Quantitative Methods and Computer Science Department, taught last semester: Neil Kennedy, Cory Tranby, Britt Hammerberg and Benjamin Werner. St. Cloud State ’s team is made up of four engineering students.

Each team built a radio-controlled UGV – the result of a yearlong technology-development project sponsored by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. General Dynamics, an Arlington, Va.-based company, integrates information management and communication systems, technology and products for military and government customers.

Students will maneuver the UGVs remotely but “seeing” them only on a computer screen. The devices have built-in video cameras that convey images back to the operators, use GPS technology and have lithium polymer battery packs and paintball guns powered by CO₂ cartridges. The students will demonstrate the UGVs’ navigation, targeting and a “final robot interaction” – trying to mark a moving target (each other) and taking evasive action.

Companies like General Dynamics work with colleges and universities to generate new ideas for their products, Sturm said. This project used General Dynamics materials to develop an application that could assist with search-and-rescue operations.