Blue Gold

Volume XIII
and
Augu
August
No. 2 2008

BSC’s 2008 IGVC

World Champions
BSC Student Team Wins 2008
International Robotics World Championship
“Anassa IV,” an autonomous
ground vehicle developed, designed,
programmed, and created by Bluefield
State College students, won the world
championship in “Intelligent Ground
Vehicle Competition (IGVC)
Autonomous Challenge” at the recent
IGVC event at Oakland University,
MI. The four-day competition attract-
ed 36 entries from institutions of
higher education in the U.S. and
abroad.
“Approximately 30 Bluefield
State College students were involved
in the development of Anassa IV,”
observed Dr. Robert Riggins, BSC
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Technology. BSC students Justin
Milam, Brad Fields, Bryan Lemon,
Louis McAllister, Toni Villanueva,
and James Cardwell, and 2007 BSC
graduate Justin Stiltner participated in
the 16th annual IGVC event, May 30-
June 2. BSC student John Browning
was also actively involved by tele-
phone during the event.
“Our students were under a
tremendous amount of pressure during
the competition,” Riggins continued.
“They averaged only about three
hours of sleep a night because they
focused so hard on what they were
trying to accomplish.” The team
made adjustments on the vehicle, its
BSC Remembers William L. Jackson’s
Life of Service to the College
The
Bluefield
State
College
community
was deeply
saddened
when
William
Lawrence Jackson, who retired at
4 AUGUST 2008 - BLUE AND GOLD
programming, and its cameras, hoping
the changes would translate into opti-
mum performance. “I assigned two
team members to find an algorithm
that would permit the vehicle to make
a 180 degree turn that was required on
the course and we continued to tweak
everything up until a few minutes
before our final run, just prior to the 5
p.m. deadline on the final day of the
“The fact that Bluefield
State College was the
smallest school in the
competition and was one of
only a very few college or
universities there without
an engineering graduate
school makes our victory
even more meaningful.”
--Dr. Robert Riggins
event. We weren’t certain if our
changes and adjustments would be
successful because there was no time
to test them,” Riggins stated.
“Our robot was a crowd favorite
because it was the fastest in the com-
petition and had the ability to process
a large amount of information through
distributive computing,” he said.
“However, some of the officials at the
competition said the course was too
Bluefield State College nearly 20
years ago after 34 years of service to
the College, died earlier this year.
Jackson was awarded “Staff
Emeritus” status in 1997 and the
Bluefield State College Student
Government Association presents an
award named in his honor during each
spring’s SGA banquet.
Jackson, who retired in 1989 as
difficult to complete.” As ANASSA
progressed through the traps and over
the bridges, the crowd in attendance
took note. “When our vehicle began
to pass the points where other teams
had stopped, our students really got
excited,” the BSC faculty member
recounted. “When ANASSA went far-
ther than any other team before us,
our student started to jump on my
back and shout. Finally, when
ANASSA weaved through a gauntlet
of barrels and shot across the finish
line, the crowd cheered just as if we
were at a football game.”
The BSC students were then
approached by representatives from
several top defense contractors and
members of the US Army Tank-
Automotive Research, Development
and Engineering Center (TARMAC),
which was a primary sponsor of the
competition. “Our team’s success has
opened a door of opportunity for our
students and for our college,” Riggins
observed. “One of our students is
considering a job offer from TAR-
MAC. The fact that Bluefield State
College was the smallest school in the
competition and was one of only a
very few college or universities there
without an engineering graduate
school makes our victory even more
meaningful.”
Director of the College’s Physical
Plant, was much beloved by students,
employees, and community. “He was
a wonderful supporter of Bluefield
State College academics and athlet-
ics,” noted Terry Brown, BSC’s
Athletic Director, “and he was a very
important and positive presence for
several generations of our students.”