Constraints and considerations

Introduction

The Team Design is one of the categories existing in an Engineering Competition, whose main goal is to solve a technical problem within a limited time period. The competition’s objective is to create a device which is able to achieve the necessary actions to solve the given problem.

In order to do so, both materials and tools, as well as the appropriate specifications will be given by the competition organisers. Any doubt that may arise in your team can be asked to them.

Above all, the main objective of a Team Design is to develop soft skills such as teamwork, imagination and the inventiveness that you, as a technical student, should have acquired by now.

Objective of the Team Design

Imagine that you are involved in a rescue operation mission in the middle of a natural disaster that just occurred on an island in the Pacific. There has been a tsunami and the water level has increased drastically. A group of survivors is stuck on a small hill there and now they are surrounded by water with no escape. The only way to get there is through the jungle. Neither helicopters nor ships are available.

Your team is small and you have just a few materials to build a device that can take you to the hill. The only thing that can help you to reach that people is to build an amphibian vehicle, which would allow you to go across land and water in one run!

You have to think about the vehicle design, taking in account that you must go up the hill and return to land, and the consumption of materials must be the most economic.

Hurry up, you have only 5 hours left!

Race track

The vehicle should do the whole run at a time. Your team will have 3 trials to do the whole run, to make sure that at least is working once. If it is not possible to do the whole run at once, you will be allowed to do it step by step. The trajectory will consist of 4 steps:

1. Across land

The vehicle must be left on the floor in a flat land and let it run.

2. Up a slope that ends up

Afterwards, the vehicle will have to go up the wooden ramp that goes inside the pool.

3. Drop to water surface

Your car will have to go up the ramp that goes into the pool and jump onto the water surface without falling on one side or sinking into water.

4. Across water

The vehicle must cross all the pool so that it does not sink into the water.

Constraints and considerations

■ Vehicles must arrive at finish line intact, no part of the vehicle may be jettisoned during the race or sunk into the water. If this happens, it will be considered as a penalty for your final score.

■ The land course, ramps and water will be made with guides along the haul to follow a straight line.

■ Maximum dimensions: The ramp is 25 cm wide, so the vehicle must pass through the same width. Maximum length between shafts: 30 cm

■ No weight restrictions, just take your own considerations

■ Power source: Dry cell batteries

■ No remote control devices

■ All motors must be electric

■ Modified toys or vehicles built from kits are not acceptable as contest entries

■ Only 2 trials for 1 minute each will be allowed during preparation.

■ An extra task is to transfer as much of nett load as possible

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16