Mars Rover Traverses Oregon State Football Team

(Video contains some slightly NSFW practice field language)↵
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↵It’s been quite the exciting month for those interested in the intersection of robotics and football. Joe Nedney won a place kicking competition against a Battlebot. Now the Oregon State Robotics Club’s Mars Rover executed a record-setting trek over a 200-man chain comprising 80 yards of distance into the end zone for a touchdown. Does this mark a peaceful era of coexistence between man and machine, or are humans merely conditioning robots to be comfortable running over the flesh of man?↵↵The run by the $12,000 machine, which weighs about 95 pounds, broke the previous school record for consecutive humans run over by a robot, which was a paltry 32. Quite a feat for a Mars Rover that has yet to actually get to the Red Planet. The video itself a series of guffaws and coaches instructing players to get their chest on the ground to avoid a back injury, which luckily the entire team managed to do. The robot even capped it off with a celebratory spin in the end zone, showing it already possesses more of a sense of humor than NCAA officials.↵

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