BeoHawk, a new quad-rotor helicopter that is being developed at USC's iLab, has taken its first flight. This flight was a major milestone for Aerial Robotics Team's goal of competing in the AUVSI International Aerial Robotics Competition. This year's competition focuses on retrieving a USB flash drive in high security office building. The robot will have to avoid security guards, security cameras, laser trip wires, and weight-sensitive floors while stealing the flash drive. The competition will be held at the University of Puerto Rico this coming August. Visit USC Robotics Society's website to learn more about this project.

Another view of the BeoHawk: USC ART Quad-Rotor Helicopter

YouTube clips: First RC Flight & Blowing Flash Drive Test

USC's Association of Computing Machinery kicked off their first Mobile Hackathon yesterday afternoon. The Mobile Hackathon is a week long programming content that is primarily focused on Apple's iPhone. The week includes information session from USC professors and Apple engineers.

Starting on Saturday, April 11, Hackathon teams will start programming a mobile application with the to-be-announced content theme. The contest continues through the night until 5pm on Sunday. ACM will judge the different mobile applications, and award prizes to the best ones!

If you are a USC student, it is not too late to register! Head over to the Mobile Hackathon website to learn more.

For those of you who don't know, I joined the Univeristy of Southern California's Marching Band this Semester. I had always been a part of the drumline during high school, but didn't join the band during my first year in college. My idea was to make sure I could handle classes before committing to the band. So, after weighing all of my other commitments for the semester, I decided that trying out for the USC drumline was a go.

Joining the Spirit of Troy has consumed a lot of my time, but being part of this band is also very rewarding. One such reward is regularly being on TV. This time, the band is going to be on ESPN in a battle of the Bands contest. We filmed this a couple of months ago after a Saturday morning practice, and we are pretty happy to finally see the result. You can see the video of us playing the theme to the Raiders of the Lost Arc online at ESPN's website. You can also vote for the best band at the website. So, if you are so inclined, please vote for USC! The winning band will be announced on College Gameday on October 11.

If you want to see more of the Trojan Marching Band, check out a USC football game, or come on campus any Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday afternoon in the Fall to hear us practice.

Fight on!

Sock Oom POW, the latest group coming out of USC, debuted at 2nd Street Jazz this past Thursday night. The funky, 8 piece group played a number of original songs along with a few classic R&B hits. The band started of with an upbeat crowd pleaser called "Everybody Dance Tonight", and continued to rock the house with two full sets of R&B bliss. Catchy rhythms and a clean sound are sure to make this group an instant favorite.

This band is a collection of some serious talent. Each of the members in the group sounds like a professional. The group stands out from other high school and college bands. The original songs that Sock Oom POW members wrote are catchy, and fun to dance to. As SC student Brian Ball puts it, "I was impressed to see how a group of people that usually don't do much R&B put together two great sets, much of which was their own material. I'm pretty sure there were only two covers in over an hour of music. The horn hits were really nice and well-timed - they sounded like they had been playing together for years." It was impressive to see such a large band come together to create solid sound that is easy to listen to.

Hello everyone! I have just secured a new job for myself for the next school year. The job is with Illumin Magazine, an online magazine put out by the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California.

The goal of Illumin is to illustrate the many ways engineering benefits and impacts our daily lives. Illumin articles are created by students of the University of Southern California, and are edited by small team of dedicated student editors. The magazine prides itself on the unique multimedia that each article contains, such as music, pictures, and videos.

I will be taking the webmaster position at Illumin next Fall. I am very excited to be working with such a motivated group of editors. I hope to propel Illumin into the Web 2.0 era, and help to maintain its status as one of the best University-run online magazines in the nation. Be sure to check out Illumin, and see how engineering affects your life, every day!