Clearwater Resident Receives Women in Defense Scholarship AwardMELBOURNE - Clearwater resident Christina Lucas, Florida Institute of Technology junior in mechanical engineering, was awarded the prestigious HORIZONS Foundation scholarship by Women in Defense, a National Security Organization and an affiliate of the National Defense Industrial Association. Lucas received a $1,320 scholarship as did two other students from Carnegie Mellon University and Georgetown University. Lucas is an intern in the Robotics and Spatial Systems Lab (RASSL) at Florida Tech. Her work, along with other interns at the lab, resulted in the development of a six-legged robot prototype called the Spherewalker. There is a wide range of purposes the Spherewalker can serve but one could be instrumental in helping troops in dangerous environments. "We could design the robot to be able to go up and around obstacles where other robots are not able to go, therefore making it less dangerous for troops," Lucas said. Lucas graduated high school from Clearwater Central Catholic in Clearwater, in 2007. She is interested in unmanned autonomous vehicles and mobile robots and is strongly considering a career in the development of advanced military systems. She and her colleagues have started a peer-reviewed paper to be published next year and are preparing patent applications.
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