Students from the UCF student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) excelled at IEEE Southeast Con 2025, coming away with a second-place finish at a hardware competition that tested their ability to build and program an autonomous robot.
Kate Archibald, UCF IEEE conference chair, says that among the boundless opportunities for professional development available, the chance to showcase their skills was the most valuable aspect of the conference.
The hardware competition was the highlight of the event for the group, who had been preparing for the contest for several months.
The challenge, “Mining Mayhem,” set in a fictional futuristic world, tasked competitors with designing, building and programming an autonomous robot. In a span of three minutes, each robot was required to collect astral material left by a deflected comet, sort the material into two receptacles, and move the materials to a designated rendezvous area.
“This is the main student competition at the conference, with its entirety being livestreamed on YouTube and the finals being performed during the awards banquet in front of everyone,” says Michael Castiglia, UCF IEEE treasurer. “It was the main focus of ours for improvement this year and therefore we had a large group of students working on it since fall.”
Their hard work paid off. The group earned second place in the hardware competition among nearly 60 university teams. In addition, they earned first place in the hardware design category, judged by a comprehensive report of their design process and a five-minute presentation to the judges.
In the networking competition, intended to mimic a real-world experience of a job or internship search, participants shared their resumes, an elevator pitch, and demonstrated their confidence and poise when meeting with connections. UCF IEEE shined in this competition as well: Janani Nagaraj, the group’s vice president, placed first, while Rafael Puig, who serves as president, placed third.
The group entered seven competitions overall, all requiring students to demonstrate technical know-how on the spot, and present live in front of conference attendees. Competitions entered included a software challenge that invited participants to develop a game in 48 hours, a circuit design challenge that tasked students with designing an oscilloscope in four hours using the software platform Arduino, and a 45-minute ethics challenge that required an essay on a real-world case study from 3D laser-printer manufacturer Glowforge.
“These competitions allowed us to apply what we’ve learned both in class, and through our organization’s events, gave us a hands-on experience that was both challenging and rewarding,” Castiglia says. “Competing in these events also allowed us to represent UCF and be proud of the university that helped get us there.”
In total, 21 students attended the annual conference geared toward industry professionals, academics and students in computer science, electrical engineering and computer engineering. The group made the most of the myriad opportunities to network with their peers, demonstrate their talent and learn the latest technologies in the industry.
Conference travel costs were covered by UCF Student Government funding and industry sponsorships. The Orlando IEEE Section also contributed, paying for the majority of registration costs for the students.
“The conference truly inspired all of us to be the best engineers that we could be,” Archibald says. “Our confidence grew with each award we got to take home and our drive to do better with each we didn’t. Both inside and outside the classroom, we know we can expand our technological skill, professional development, teamwork and overall passion for engineering.”
Story by Bel Huston