Vaughn College’s Micromouse team traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, this past weekend to compete in the 2024 IEEE MIT Micromouse Competition, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Saturday, October 12. The Micromouse competition challenges teams to design and build small robotic “mice” that can autonomously navigate through a maze. This year, Vaughn’s team included Karla Gutierrez 24’, Jeniffer Guardia 25’, Muhammad Abdullah 26’, and Dominik Fital 26’, with Gutierrez and Guardia also being members of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).

The 2024 competition saw a total of 10 teams presenting their Micromouse designs to a panel and competing in the maze. Vaughn College’s Jerry was among the few robots that managed to advance deeper into the maze, highlighting the team’s strong design and problem-solving skills. The Rutgers University team was the only team to reach the goal in this year’s event, by successfully reaching the center of the maze without any mishaps.

Other schools competing included Fitchburg State University and New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), among others.

Looking ahead, the next Micromouse competition will be hosted by NYIT on Long Island, New York, in May, though the exact date has not yet been confirmed. The competition will feature five events, including a new event called “Find the Fire,” which hasn’t been part of Micromouse competitions for several years. In this event, the Micromouse will need to use a combination of sensors to detect a signal representing a fire within the maze. Vaughn College’s team looks forward to refining their design and preparing for the exciting new challenges in the upcoming competition.