[It's an old copy of "Washington County Tribune"]
[An article is circled in blue ink]
LOCAL STUDENTS WIN ENGINEERING CONTEST WITH HOME-MADE ROBOT
AUGUST 3RD, 1968
Yesterday, two Hurricane locals were proclaimed the victors of the Utah Society for Young Innovators (USYI) engineering competition, winning the first place prize of $100. Henry Emily, 21, and William Afton, 24, are both students at Carmen University in St. George, studying robotics and autonomous systems engineering. Working out of a garage for three months, the pair just managed to finish their project in time for the submission deadline.
"It was very stressful, truly," William confessed,
"but we're very proud of what we've made."
The contest-winning invention was a small robot designed to dispense coffee. It looked like a coffee pot with legs, and was capable of locating an empty mug on a table, moving towards it, and using a robotic arm to pour the drink, all completely free of outside input. The innovations in optical sensing, image recognition, and fine motor control were what secured the win for the two students.
"I'm glad we won," remarked Henry,
"I think the best part is seeing how excited William is."
When asked about what they are planning on doing going forward, William gave this particularly ambitious statement:
"The dream is that someday, we will have robots walking around, interacting with people, completely autonomously. With the help of these winnings, we intend to continue working towards that goal and continue pushing the boundaries of robotics!"