School of Engineering ENS1154 Introduction to Engineering

Practical Project: King of the Hill

ASSESSMENT DETAILS
Project Component Demonstration / Tutorial Competition Tutorial competition - category winners Grand final - category winners 21st May during lecture session TOTAL Time: Date Due Week of 7th May 2013 during tutorial sessions % of unit marks 10%

Bonus 1%

Bonus 1% 15% +

During scheduled tutorial sessions. Teams will only be able to compete during their own scheduled sessions.

OBJECTIVE
To design and construct a vehicle that can climb to the top of a hill under its own power carrying a passenger (an egg), and sustain its position against an opposing vehicle coming up the other side of the hill (or push the opposing vehicle back down). The illustration in Fig. 1 shows the approximate dimensions of the hill. The hill is roughly 30cm wide ( 0.5cm) and is covered with a carpet material to assist with grip. A vehicle is considered to be on top of the hill if its entire body lies completely within the two 120-cm lines after a 30-second time interval. This is a team project, and each team will be required to demonstrate their solutions in competition with other teams from the unit. The requirements statement has been left fairly open-ended to give teams the opportunity to be creative and innovative in their solutions. However, as in a real-life project, it requires balancing functional requirements with safety and other design constraints, as well as time and cost considerations. The objectives of this project are to give you experience in designing a real working model based on given requirements and constraints, as well as to have some fun getting something (hopefully) working and competing with your peers.

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Top of the Hill 30 cm 120 cm 90 cm 30 cm 30 cm 120 cm

Figure 1: Hill dimensions (not to scale)

Figure 2: Picture of the Hill

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SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS / CONSTRAINTS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The system must be autonomous and self-contained. No remote power, control wires, or remote-control links are allowed. The systems exterior dimensions at the start of each attempt, including passenger and equipment, must not extend beyond the sides of an imaginary 30-cm cube. The systems total weight, including batteries if used, must not exceed 2 kg (without passenger). The vehicle may be placed at any point up to 1m before the start of the incline. No components of the system are allowed to be on the hill prior to start. The system must be started / launched by an activation device (e.g. switch or mechanical release) on the system. Team members may not activate any device before the start instruction is given. The system must be in a ready state WITHOUT manual intervention prior to activation (i.e. no holding of any part of the system by team members, pushing to start, etc.). The system can be powered by the following energy sources only: 7. Electrical sources batteries, etc. Mechanical sources Rubber bands, wind-up springs, etc. Other green sources subject to approval

6.

The system must not use chemicals or dangerous substances. No rocket-type devices, CO2 propulsion devices, fossil fuel, or any other chemical reactions are allowed. No mercury switches are permitted. (Mercury is a toxic substance, and a risk exists that a mercury switch will break during the competition.) Each system must be capable of multiple attempts as the competition will require successful systems to make multiple attempts.

8.

SAFETY SPECIFICATIONS / CONSTRAINTS

1. 2. All parts of the system must be contained within the specified competition area throughout each attempt. If any parts go out of the area, or are deemed hazardous to the spectators, they will be considered a safety hazard. The team responsible may have their results for the attempt nullified or be disqualified from the competition depending on the severity of the breach. The safety of the passenger is paramount. The egg should arrive at its destination unbroken and with no visible cracks. For this reason the passenger needs to be able to be inspected relatively easily after each attempt. This should be taken into account in the design of the system, and any system where it takes longer than 30s to extract the passenger for inspection post run risks being disqualified.

3.

TEAMS

Students to work in the same teams as for the EWB Challenge Only one demonstration system required per team.

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COSTING SHEET & PRESENTATION OF SOLUTION

Each team will need to submit in writing a detailed costing of system, including total cost, prior to the competition (mandatory one per team). Note: If components used are supplied by team members or otherwise borrowed/scavenged, then fair market value (cost to purchase new) must be attributed to these components in the costing.

At the start of the competition, each team will have to orally present their solution in two minutes, covering: Principles of operation of the solution Innovative features included

COMPETITION
The competition will be run as follows:

Teams in each tutorial will be divided into two sections. Teams will compete against all other teams in their section in a preliminary round. Teams will be ranked according to the number of wins in the preliminary round. The top two teams in each section will take-part in cross-over semi-finals (the top ranked team in one section against the second ranked team in the other section). The winners of the semi-finals will compete in the final round to determine the winner in the Best Performance category.

COMPETITION JUDGING CRITERIA In a single run

The winner of each run is the solution that ends up at the higher vertical point with the egg intact (see safety rules for cases where egg is not intact) at the end of the 30 second timer. o o In the event of a tie, the solution that reached its maximum height faster will be deemed the winner. If still tied, the system with lower cost will be the winner.

Preliminary round rankings

Teams will be ranked according to the number of wins If two teams end up with the same number of wins at the end of the preliminary round, the winner of their previous head-to-head run will be ranked higher. If multiple teams tie, the most innovative system, as determined by the judges, will be the winner.

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COMPETITION CATEGORIES
The competition will be divided into 3 categories:

Best Performance Most Cost Effective Most Innovative

Best Performance Category

The winner of the final round for the session will be the winner of the best performance category.

Most Cost-Effective Category

In this category, the system that has the best win-to-cost ratio is the winner. The number of wins will be the total number of wins for preliminary rounds, semi-finals and finals. In the event of a tie, the more innovative system, as determined by the judges, will be the winner. Winning teams may have to provide verification of cost (receipts etc). If parts are acquired from non-commercial sources, reasonable market costs must be attributed.

Most Innovative Category

In this category, the system with the most innovative design as determined by the judges will be the winner. Note: The judges decision will be final and no appeals will be allowed.

The competition will be held during the tutorial sessions. The winners for each category in each tutorial session will be awarded a bonus mark (1% of unit total). Note that it is possible for the same team to win multiple categories.

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COMPETITION RULES
1.

All criteria, specifications and constraints in the Project document need to be complied with (exceptions stated below). Any team solution that does not comply will NOT be eligible to compete. However the team may be allowed to demonstrate their solution to show that it works. This will not be considered part of the competition.

WEIGHT and SIZE measurements 2. 3. 4. All solutions will be weighed and measured prior to start of competition without the passenger (egg) loaded. Solutions must be ready to go (i.e. all power sources etc installed) at weigh in. Teams whose solution / vehicle exceeds one or both of weight / size restrictions but are 10% or less over the limit will be allowed to compete, but are NOT eligible to be category winners. This is to allow teams to get performance marks. Teams whose solution / vehicle exceeds one or both of weight / size restrictions by more than 10% will only be allowed to demonstrate whether the solution can meet minimum performance levels. This will not be considered part of the competition.

5.

SAFETY 6. All safety specifications must be met. Team may have their results for the run nullified or be disqualified from the competition if deemed to be unsafe by the judges, depending on the severity of the breach. The egg at the end of a run should be unbroken and with no visible cracks. The physical status of this passenger will be evaluated at the end of each run, whether successful or not. o A cracked egg = injured passenger Team will be deemed the loser if the opposing team has egg intact regardless of their ending position Two cracked eggs will result in team not being eligible for final rounds o Broken egg (any part of contents visible) = fatality Run is counted as a loss If both teams have broken eggs, there will be no winner (both lose)

7.

Team can complete preliminary rounds, but will not be eligible to compete beyond preliminary round 8. Mark penalties will apply for eggs ending up cracked or broken.

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GRAND FINAL COMPETITION

The winners of the best performance category of each tutorial session will face off in the Grand Final to be held during the lecture session on 21st May 2013 (subject to change). Improvements to system designs based on experience from the first competition are permitted, provided any such changes are fully documented and any changes in cost fully specified. The teams in the Grand Final will have to present their designs to the class prior to the Grand Final. The winning team for each category in the Grand Final will be awarded additional bonus marks (1% of unit total).

PORTFOLIO SUBMISSION
As part of the e-portfolio for this unit, students will need to individually prepare a portfolio entry for this project. Students are advised to prepare materials that may be needed for their portfolio such as plans, photos and videos of prototypes and test efforts, the final solution, and the competition. Details regarding the portfolio submission will be covered at a later date.

MARKING SCHEME Costing of system - total cost (mandatory) - level of detail / reliability of information - completeness Demonstrate working model - functional design, able to make it to top of hill (beyond 30 cm mark on ramps) Design meets weight and size criteria Performance - make it to very top of hill (90 cm vertical) at least once = 10 - able to win at least 1 round = 20 Cost effectiveness Safety Innovation TOTAL 10

10 5 30

15 10 20 100

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APPENDIX : Late Submission and Plagiarism

As per Edith Cowan University rules: ..., an assignment submitted after the fixed or extended time for submission shall incur a penalty to be calculated as follows: (a) where the assignment is submitted not more than one week late, the penalty shall, for each working day that it is late, be 5% of the maximum assessment available for the assignment; or where the assignment is submitted more than one week late, a mark of zero shall be awarded.

(b)

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University regards academic misconduct of any form as unacceptable. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism; unauthorised collaboration; cheating in examinations; theft of other students work. The university defines academic misconduct as follows: academic misconduct cheating plagiarism means conduct in relation to any academic work that is dishonest or unfair. conduct in any assessment that is dishonest. to knowingly or unknowingly present as ones own work the ideas or writings of another without appropriate acknowledgment or referencing. This includes, but is not limited to:

means means

paraphrasing text without acknowledgment of the source; paraphrasing text inadequately with acknowledgment of the source; copying the text of another students assignment or other students assignments; and copying of visual representations (cartoons, line drawings, photos, paintings and computer programs).