"A watering Roomba would be an accurate, but crude, way to describe our project," said Ryan Caulfield.

Caulfield's team partnered with GRapids Irrigation, a family-owned Grand Rapids company. They aimed to produce an autonomous system that could consistently water an American football field, approximately 28,800 square feet, in 12 hours.

"Much of the goal was around replacing inground irrigation systems for stadiums, which can be difficult and expensive for those stadiums to maintain, our partner saw this as a potential solution," said Wade Callahan.

The Rainbotdelivers a consistent quarter-inch of water by using an internal measurement unit and a GPS. It can travel over 180 feet without more than a foot of deviation.

The group even developed its hose reel system to combat the tangling of the hose and to better serve the design of the Rainbot. They included an anti-collision sensor and an emergency shutoff as safety features.

"It could be the next thing you see at halftime," said Callahan. "Just like hockey games have Zambonis, maybe soon the NFL will have the Rainbot."

Team Members: Devin Brown, Wade Callahan, Ryan Caulfield, Hannah Corbett, John Gulock, Stephanie Moore, Yuki Nishibashi, Nicholas Tibbe