The Y2K UC Robot Team intends to compete in the International Collegiate Ground Robotics Competition in Orlando, Florida from  July 7 -10, 2000.   To compete, student teams must design and construct a mobile robot that will autonomously navigate an obstacle course using state of the art machine vision, sonar, electronics, and artificial intelligence computing.  The development of future engineers, scientists, and leaders in these disciplines is crucial to continued global industrial competitiveness.  The competition is of the highest caliber and has included Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, and international teams from Japan and Canada. 

 Our student team members and faculty advisor meet regularly on their own time to design, build, and de-bug the complex robotic vehicle.  We have been trying to complete a new prototype, and need funding for several remaining critical components.   We are seeking individual or corporate sponsors to help the UC Robot team complete our competition vehicle.  In return for sponsorship we will: 
      
1) Provide a Certificate of Sponsorship, which signifies the level of       sponsorship: 
             (a) $25: Bronze Level            (b) $50: Silver Level 
             (c) $100: Golden Level         (d) $200: Platinum Level 
             (e) $250 or more: Iridium Level 

    
2) Display your company logo on the Bearcat robot vehicle, team  T-shirts, and  event booth. 
    
3) Display your company logo on our Web page at: 
             http://www.eng.uc.edu/robotics 
     
Let you be a Monday Night Quarterback on the Team -- you will get the password to our design world wide web site database so you can follow development throughout the design competition. 
   
Please do not let this opportunity pass.  Sponsorship serves to demonstrate your support for the students and manufacturing student activities.  There is also an opportunity to become acquainted with outstanding students who are creative, energetic and inventive and could be a future asset to your company. 

 You may send checks payable to the UC Center for Robotics at the address given below.  These will be reported to UC Foundation and processed as tax exempt gifts.  In kind contributions, such as servomotors, computer  components, computer motor, control boards, solid state cameras, vision  processors, ultrasonic sensors, tools, etc. are also welcome.  Please feel  free to call me at (513) 556-2730 to discuss this opportunity. 

 More information on the contest may be found at: 
 http://www.secs.oakland.edu/SECS_prof_orgs/PROF_AUVSI/

 Sincerely, 

All team members

Center for Robotics Research

University of Cincinnati,

Cincinnati, OH 45219

Contact Information:

 Sathish Shanmugasundaram                 T. Nathan Mundhenk 
 Team Co-President                                     Team Co-President 
 Email: shanmusk@email.uc.edu          Email: mundhetn@email.uc.edu 

 Ernest L. Hall                                    
 Faculty Advisor to the Robot Team 
 Email: Ernie.Hall@uc.edu