Professional Engineering

I mentioned once that im taking a subject called professional engineering, which sounds very professional. 40% of the mark for that course is related to a project for a competition.

The task:
As an engineering team, design and build a mechanical device that can deliver a payload (a rubber ball) into a small, rigidly fixed cylindrical aluminium container from a distance of between 3-6m in 0.5m increments, across a reasonably smooth concrete floor. The device must be as inexpensive and lightweight as possible. Use your knowledge in HSC physics and research other areas as necessary to perform the engineering analysis necessary for ur design. The winning team will receive a cash prize of $500.

The score is calculated in the following way:
Score = [d*(t+ot)*m*p*c] where

d = distance from target centre to centre of ball in cm (d=1 if ball delivered into container)
t = time (secs) till payload touches the ground or stops moving
ot = time that team runs over 30sec setup time
m = device mass (kg)
p = cumulative penalty
c = cost index

sounds fun right? it was fun. my group consists of myself, 2 local white guys and a guy from Dubai. I believe its the best team in the course. no, really. it was a great team coz they're all very capable. sometimes i feel like im the least productive member of our team.

after a few months of hardwork in the engineering workshop, we produced this :



looks good doesnt it? its a great design. after a few test run sessions where we can see how the other teams do, we realised that we were serious contenders for 1st place. we use shock cord wrapped around the axle to turn the back wheel, whereas a lot of teams choose to use motor or rubber band. In the end, it proved to be the correct choice coz the devices that use motors are slower and more expensive than ours and those that use rubber bands are not powerful enough. We were the fastest team in the competition and our device is one of the cheapest. unfortunately, we didnt win coz during the competition our ball didnt come out of the pipe to drop into the aluminium can.

Even so, im still proud of all that we've done. it was a great team, a great device, and a great effort. heck, even the report in the end looks more professional than any report i;ve done before even though i only spent half an hour doing my part. professional engineering isnt such a terrible subject after all.