ECE 480 - ME 481 Team 14
"Waging War on Halftime Boredom"

Two years ago, Michigan State University Intercollegiate Athletics, along with Sports Broadcasting, wanted to create a robotic Sparty that would be able to interact with fans at MSU sporting events. The task was taken up by four electrical engineers as their Capstone Design project. The student team built a robotic Sparty to participate in the pre-game and halftime shows at MSU basketball games. While the robot was functional, its aesthetics and reliability left a lot to be desired. In the end, the robotic Sparty never made a halftime appearance to inspire the crowd.

Back L-R: Rick Church, Justin Ketterer, Steve Patrick, Matt Warpinski, Wayne Steward, Dr. Cevat Gokcek
Front L-R: Andrew Schafer, Mark Ehrenberger, M1A3 Sparty Tank, Matt Raetz, Nandan Patel

This year a team of dedicated Spartans, comprised of four electrical and four mechanical engineers, revisited the project with the goal of providing an aesthetically pleasing, workable robot Sparty. The team chose to place Sparty at the helm of a remote controlled tank. His treads are capable of traversing a multitude of terrains including ice, grass and even hardwood floors. He has a built-in launcher at his disposal, which is capable of shooting t-shirts or balls into the top of the Breslin upper deck. Motors inside Sparty give him life-like arm flexing ability to inspire fans to cheer and support the team. The M1A3 Sparty Tank will be the envy of rival Big Ten schools, and his stage presence and dynamic capabilities will delight Spartans for years to come.

Please take a moment to watch a short demonstration.