The UMHB Engineering Department Introduces Their Robotic Dog
By Kevin Dolan, Reporter
There is a new Crusader in town. The UMHB engineering department has brought a new learning tool to campus – a robotic dog.
Aiden Rocha, a mechanical engineering student, is the most recent to work with the robot dog. Rocha is a junior working with Eddie Drake, the supervisor of engineering workshop Makerspace, to program the dog. He is working to program the dog to do various things around the Engineering Design Building (EDB) and campus.
Rocha wants to help students explore interest in engineering by displaying the types of things that engineers do when working with robots and other technology like that in the robot dog.
“I hope [my fellow] students will add to the programming and get inspired by the dog,” said Rocha. He would like to eventually program it to escort potential students around the EDB or campus.
William Stine, mechanical engineering student, first learned about the dog in the fall of 2025. “Everyone was talking about it,” he stated excitedly when asked about the dog. While he is not directly involved with the dog project, he knows about it. He hopes to see more of the dog at future events such as Big Fair or other UMHB social events. The dog’s presence at future events will show his fellow students the capabilities of engineering. Stine said he wants to encourage the engineers to “show off a little.”
Drake has been involved with the project since its inception. He helped Dr. Chengli Wei purchase the dog under the Faculty Development Grant, a UMHB internal grant given to a university professor to enhance research opportunities. Since receiving the dog, he has had some struggles to get the dog’s digital software licensing and online accounts correct. He is working to ensure that no matter which student is working with the dog, they will have the necessary access to be able to both program and learn from it.
Modern engineering works closely with robotics and AI. Rocha and Drake are learning daily how modern technologies are combined into the robot dog. As with any technology, there are drawbacks. One of Aiden’s concerns is that during some maneuvers the dog cannot adjust itself and may collide with objects. The technology that allows the dog to see is called LIDAR, a form of laser guidance.
This technology is complex and the engineering students hope to showcase more technologies like this as they learn and enter the engineering working world.
