In July, Vaughn engineering students attended the 20th annual Latin America and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI) conference, along with Vaughn engineering faculty members. Students had the opportunity to submit papers for publication to the LACCEI international conference along with posters. The mission of LACCEI is to facilitate and promote global collaborations in the advancement and continuous improvement of engineering and technology education, practice, research and innovation linking Latin America and the Caribbean to the rest of the world.  

Judges selected the paper, “ReGenBot: Design of An Autonomous Robot to Revitalize Burnt Soil in South American Forests”, written by Alina Santander ’23, Tatiana Jaimes ’22 and Cristian Sorto ’22 as the recipient of the first-place award. The objective is to design and develop a robot that is programmed with Arduino and includes an ultrasonic sensor, a servomotor, NPK, moisture and temperature sensor for South American forests that record a high number of wildfires every year. The paper discussed design processes and features of the ReGenBot, a low-cost autonomous robot intended to collect data from burnt soil to analyze its characteristics, especially deficiencies, and distribute fertilizer or nitrogen to balance the soil’s composition and revitalize it. 

Judges selected the poster made by Ryan Tang Dan ’17 as the recipient of the third-place award. His poster provided an insight about his STEM summer camp program to prepare high school students for the VEX Robotics Competitions.  

To learn more about the LACCEI conference, click here. 

 

(L-R) Alina Santander ’23, Cristian Sorto ’22 and Tatiana Jaimes ’22, first place winners of the LACCEI 2022 student paper session competition.