The project is a remote controlled, sonic the hedgehog, inspired ground breaking robot. In past, ground breaking ceremonies are typically boring where the ground breakers are given shovels and dig dirt. To change this image of groundbreakings, creating robots that move dirt can be very exciting and more engaging to the audience. The robot was made by using layered pieces of cardboard, motors, arduinos, and servos. The wheels (that stimulate the movement of the sonic inspired spindash)  are made of stacked cardboard slices that are attached to the motors. The motors are mounted to a wooden board in the center, where it is connected to an arduino. The arduino has a reciever that is connected to the remote controller, where the audience can effect the spinning wheels, and flip a switch to pop out the head and legs of the sonic. This sonic robot is a great way of bringing some nostalgia and fun to the audience at the ground breaking. 

If you know what a groundbreaking event is, you know that they are very boring. A group of older people standing around a patch of dirt wearing hard hats and using a fancy shovel to dig into the dirt. Not so entertaining; so we were told to create a robot that might make the groundbreaking not so boring, but in a delightful way.

Sonic The Hedgehog was a very popular game and Sonic is a very popular video game character. Sonic had this one famous move called the Spin Dash. When Sonic would do this move, he would curl up into a ball, rev for a second, then go off speeding throughout the course. So this is where we came up with the idea. It is a remote controlled wheel like thing that takes up the shape of Sonic The Hedgehog's Spin Dash that would roll around on the dirt and also dig holes. Sonic has very spiky hair - his most famous feature -, so we used the idea of having his hair being the shovels around the machine. This robot will serve its purpose - digging dirt -, but also make it very entertaining and delightful for them to watch.