1997 ASME STUDENT DESIGN CONTEST
Guidelines for Conducting the Contest

• Personnel Required
  • A three person Judging Panel including a Chief Judge.
  • Two Timers and a Recorder.
    
    
• Equipment and Materials Required
  • A 3/4" thick 4'x8' sheet of grade 'A/C' plywood.
  • New Radio Shack (RS) Alkaline Enercel 1.5V AA batteries (at least two per entry). Valid RS part numbers are 23-557 (2-pack), 23-552 (4-pack), and 23-652 (12-pack).
  • Two digital stop watches.
  • Metric tape measure.
  • Halex 3-star ping-pong balls (12 recommended).
  • Top Flite XL-regular golf balls (6 recommended).
  • Two open-ended boxes (the "box" and the "platform") of outside dimensions 16x16x32 cm constructed from 1/4" grade 'A/C' plywood. The "platform" should have three 1/2" holes centered on the top, 8 cm apart center to center.
    
    
• Preparation
  • The Region Vice President should appoint the Judging Panel, Chief Judge, Timers, and Recorder.
  • The Host Section should set up the contest area. The plywood should lie on a firm, flat, and level surface (e.g., on the floor).
  • All personnel involved with the contest should read the problem statement and all update bulletins very carefully. Anything unclear or confusing should be discussed by the Judging Panel before the contest.
  • The Judges should have a pre-contest meeting with the contestants to discuss the contest rules and procedures, and to answer any questions.
  • The order for running the first trials should be selected randomly (e.g., by having the teams pick numbers from a hat).
    
    
• Conducting a Trial
  1. Call the selected team to the contest area and supply them with a new battery.
     Have the team verify that their entire system fits within the 16x16x32 cm "box".
  2. Give the team a signal to start assembling their system and have the Timers measure the assembly time. "Assembly" includes placing the "platform" and "box" the desired distance apart and placing the golf ball and ping-pong balls in place. The team should give a clear signal to the Timers when the assembly is complete. Once this signal is given, the team members aren't allowed to touch the system until the transport start signal is given. The Recorder should note the assembly time. If this time exceeds five minutes, the team is disqualified.
  3. The Judges should measure the platform-box separation distance (in cm to the nearest mm) and have the Recorder note the value. The minimum allowable distance is 50 cm and since the "platform" and "box" must remain on the plywood base, the maximum allowable distance is 211.8 cm.
  4. The Judges should verify that the system is not in contact with anything except the 4'x8' plywood, the box, and the platform.
  5. If this is the first trial, the contestants must give a one to two minute presentation to the Judges and audience. Questions that should be answered by the presentation include: How does the system work? What sequence of events should be expected as the event proceeds? Why did you choose this design? What were your design constraints and considerations? What other designs did you consider? What sort of test and evaluation process did you go through in the development of your design?
  6. The timers should give the team a signal to begin the transport. Both Timers should start their watches at this time.
  7. The Timers should stop their watches when all of the balls come to rest in the box. The average time should be noted by the Recorder rounded to the nearest tenth of a second.
  8. At this point, the team will have a maximum of two minutes to reset their system for a mandatory second run. During this time, the team must replace the balls in the starting position and reset the distance between the "platform" and the "box" to the original distance. If the two minute reset time is exceeded, a second run will not be allowed and a score of 0 will be assigned to the second trial.
  9. The team can now collect and remove their system.
     
     
• Determining a Winner

  The score (s) for each valid run is:

  score = d / T
  • where:

    d = the distance between the "platform" and the "box" measured in cm rounded to the nearest mm.

    T = the transport time measured in seconds rounded to the nearest tenth.

  If the transport time exceeds one minute or if the system fails to transfer all three balls into the box, the trial receives a score of 0.

  The final score is the average score for the two trials:

  TOTAL SCORE = (score1 + score2) / 2

  where:

  • score1 = the score for the first trial.

    score2 = the score for the second trial.

  Note:

  • The highest score wins.
  • If there is a tie, the Judging Panel should select a winner based on "reliability" and "potential to succeed at the finals" as subjective measures.
  • The Region Vice President is encouraged to give special awards to teams for originality, aesthetic appeal, enthusiasm, etc.