A University of Utah robotics professor competes on 'American Ninja Warrior'

The other day, I got to talk to Steve Mascaro, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah. He teaches a robotics course, "mechatronics," and recently challenged his students to design, build and program a robot that could navigate an obstacle course inspired by "American Ninja Warrior."

As an incentive, Mascaro told his students that if they could build robots that could survive his "Robot Ninja Warrior" course, he would train for and audition for NBC's "American Ninja Warrior."

Well, it happened, and Mascaro will be appearing on Monday night's episode. Here is my story about Mascaro, his robots, and his upcoming TV appearance, from sltrib.com.