UMD News Releases

Four UMD Industrial Engineering students were selected to compete in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Student Design Competition in New York City November 11. They are:
Mike Anderson , Cloquet, MN
Charlie Fox, Duluth, MN
Steve Sobiech, Duluth,MN
Joe Higgins, Crystal Lake, MN

The UMD group is one of only 13 in the nation selected to participate in the national contest. UMD students won their regional competition representing seven states which included: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. The UMD student project was designed to meet the challenge of:

"design, build and demonstrate a fishing rod and reel controlled by simulated "sip and puff" technology that will allow a quadriplegic person to accurately cast a fishing lure. One person, solely through inputs from"momentary -on" switches, must control the device. The operator must cast a simulated lure and attempt to hit each of the targets. Two attempts at each target are allowed. The line connected to the lure must be retrieved by the reel after each cast The contest is scored by taking the measurements between the lure and the target for each cast. The team with the lowest score wins."

The Rod and Reel project was started the previous school year by five UMD Industrial Engineering students: Mike Lakeore, Jim Wilkerson, Dave Halverson, Chris Gillen, and Eric Severson.

UMD Associate Professor and Head, Industrial Engineering Department, David Wyrick, and Professor Richard Lindeke accompanied the team to New York.