MECHATRONICS CAR CONTEST (MCC 2012) 24 NOVEMBER 2012 L'Amoreaux C.I., Scarborough

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1 MECHATRONICS CAR CONTEST (MCC 2012) 24 NOVEMBER 2012 L'Amoreaux C.I., Scarborough RULES, CONDITIONS AND SPECIFICATIONS Preamble The Mechatronics Car Contest 2012 (MCC 2012) is being conducted by the Professional Engineers Ontario Scarborough Chapter (PEOSC). Students from Grade 9 and 10 of High Schools in Scarborough are eligible to enter for this contest. The students can form teams of up to 3 and register for the contest. The prizes are awarded in 4 categories: Knowledge of participants determined by a panel of judges by interviewing Performance of the design car determined by racing Teachers prizes School s prize Summary of & Conditions 1. The contest is open to Grade 9 & 10 high school students from Scarborough, Ontario. 2. Applications can be made by teachers or Parents/Guardian by filling the form in our website, and agreeing to our and Conditions. 3. Each Car is designed, fabricated and raced by Teams of up to 3 students. 4. The work should be by the students only. Teachers and Parents/Guardians may train/help the students, and assure safety during fabrication. 5. The students should fully understand their work as they have to face an interview, including practical use of meters. 6. The applicant and the students agree to all the terms and conditions of the contest. 7. Parent consent forms should be signed during the registration. 8. A nominal registration fee of $5.00 per student is payable. This fee is only to ensure only interested parties participate. 9. If a prospective team who received the parts from PEOSC does not appear for the contest, the Parent/Guardian agrees to return the parts, whether unused or assembled and used. 10. All participants will receive Certificate of Participation. About the Contest The contest will be held at L'Amoreaux C.I., 2501 Bridletowne Circle, Toronto, ON on Saturday 24 November, 2012 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Students of Grade 9 & 10 will design, fabricate and race them in an exciting contest. This contest meets PEOSC s objective of promoting public awareness of the engineering profession in the local community. The students will be able to apply their school education and what they gain from Mechatronics as a hobby for full utilisation for their future growth. In addition, students will improve their life skills of facing interviews, making presentations & speeches, developing self esteem and self confidence. 1

2 Application for Contest Applications can be made by filling the forms at the Registration Website. As there will be prizes for teachers, it is expected that the teachers will be making the applications for the teams. Parents or Guardians of students may also apply. Once the applications are received, PEOSC will supply some parts necessary for fabricating a car for the contest through the schools. Contestants are expected to supply the remaining parts required to complete the car according to their own design. Certain parts and methods are mandatory as detailed out in the specifications. They may use alternate parts for all other items in place of what is supplied. The contestants shall supply a cost estimate of all the parts used in the assembly. Lower cost and weight of the fabricated car may be a favourable consideration for the Judges prizes. Schools and Parents/Guardians may have to provide tools such as soldering irons, glue guns, multi-meters for measurement and some workshop facilities. Adult supervision and advice would be required to ensure safe practices when using such tools. 1. Registration, Inspection and Interview by judges Each team who pre-registered at our website and accepted by PEOSC will confirm the registration personally at the contest location with the fabricated car. The registered teams will pass through the inspection team where the cars will be measured to check compliance with the specifications (length, width, height) and then weighed. A panel of judges will interview the contestants to test their presentation skills, and knowledge of their designs. The judges will go through the design notes, circuit diagrams, drive train diagrams and other documents that the contestant team brings. Also the contestants will be asked to measure voltage, resistance or current in the circuits of their designs using analogue and/or digital multi-meters supplied by the judges. Separate judges prizes will be awarded to the team as well as to individual team members who perform well. For the judges team prizes, preference may be given to lower weight and lower cost cars provided they come within the first 10 cars in the race contest. o Each contestant will have to answer a set of questions meant to test his/her knowledge of Mechanics, Electricity, Electronics and related fields. o The questions will be within the scope of the Ontario Curriculum plus some extras that is acquired by enthusiast hobbyists in this field. (Sample questions and answers will be available in our website at 2. Car Race: After the interview, the car that was designed and fabricated by the team will be subject to performance testing. The car performance is checked by racing the cars for a distance of 20 metres on a flat smooth floor of the contest site. The cars shall be tethered to run straight along twine which will be threaded to 2 guide hooks at the bottom of each car. A maximum of 10 cars will be raced at a time. The winners of this will race in the final race to determine the first 3 winners. 3. Prizes: Winning Car Team: 3 prizes Judges Team: 3 prizes Teachers prizes: Prizes will be awarded to the teacher(s) who nominated most teams and who trained the winners. 2

3 School Prize: Prize for the school that is judged as the one that sent the best team. Reference Books An idea of the Mechatronics Car and its circuitry may be obtained from Project 1 of the book: Mechatronics for the Evil Genius 25 build-it-yourself projects by Newton C. Braga Publishers: McGraw-Hill. Year of Publication: 2006 Materials/Components Some parts for fabricating the car are supplied by PEOSC. The contestants shall bring detailed sketches and drawings along with design notes (Sample available at Certain parts and methods are mandatory as detailed out in the specifications. They may use alternate parts for all other items in place of what is supplied as proposed in their design drawings and notes. PEOSC will supply some additional parts: resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors etc. for the contestants to experiment with and measure their characteristics using analogue and digital multi-meters, in order to prepare for the judges interviews. Such additional parts may be used in the car if their design requires them. Part supplied by PEO Scarborough Chapter: The following parts (valued at $15.00) are supplied by PEO Scarborough Chapter. 1. Battery holder for 4 AA batteries. $ V battery snap for connecting to the Battery holder $ Set of 4 AA size alkaline batteries. $ small 4.5-6V DC motor with specifications $ Darlington PNP transistor-td 220 $ LDR Light dependent resistor. $ Set of Resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs (For contestants to experiment and use what may be useful for the design). (Varies Average $0.25 x4) $ Set of coloured wires for connections $ Terminal strip No cost ties No cost guide hooks (curtain hooks) No cost 12. A set of gear wheels (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 teeth & bushings $ A set of pulleys (10, 25, 38 & 50 mm diameter) $ A 3 propeller 3 blade $ Steel axles 1 pair $0.16 Total cost of items supplied: $14.00 Part/Items to be supplied by the Contestants: The contestants shall supply the following: Sketches/drawings of the designs, circuit diagrams, along with design notes ( a sample available at our web-site) Additional and alternative parts required to complete the car such as: o Car chassis made of cardboard, aluminum, plastic or other material o Car body & paint (optional) o 3 or more required wheels including tires and axles o Gear drive train or belt and pulley system, direct drive of the wheels, or propeller/fan to drive the car. (if alternate from the sets supplied) o Other parts as required as per contestants designs. 3

4 Note: You may use parts from old toys etc. Items Supplied/Provided by School/Parents/Guardians: The following are expected to be supplied by School/Parents/Guardians: (Proper safety precautions including wearing of safety equipment have to be assured by an experienced teacher/parent/ guardian supervising or advising the fabrication). Soldering iron/gun/station to be used in proper ventilated area Solder and flux- Approved quality for electronic work Note: Solderless construction using breadboards or other suitable methods are also allowed. Glue gun with glue sticks Tools and/or machinery for fabricating the car and the circuits Analogue Multi-meter to learn to measure voltage, current and resistance Digital Multi-meter to learn to measure voltage, current and resistance Workshop facilities, if required. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE CAR The contestants are required to adhere to the following specifications. The cars not meeting the specifications may be subject to disqualify from racing Mandatory specifications: 1. The car shall not exceed a maximum dimension of: 300mm length, 150mm width and 200 mm height. This means that it should fit inside a box of 300 mm length, 150 mm width and 200 mm depth. 2. It shall have 3 or more wheels of suitable diameters. 3. It shall be powered by not more than 4 of AA size alkaline batteries. 4. The supplied Volt DC motor shall be used. 5. A suitable drive system consisting of gears, pulleys, or direct drive or propeller fan will propel the car. A set of pulleys, gears and propeller will be supplied. You may choose from amongst these or supply your own. 6. Minimum clearance from the ground shall be 10 mm, except for 2 supplied guide hooks which can have a clearance of 5 mm. 7. The supplied LDR shall be used. The car shall be started without touching the car. This can be achieved by using a cover (pen lid or so) covering the LDR. When the lid is lifted off by a team member at the Start signal, the car will be powered and start running. The cover shall be lifted upwards so that no horizontal force will be applied to assist the car s running. The lighting in the contest site is average as found in a gym, assembly hall or sitting room. 8. The car will be guided along taut twine laid along the track by PEOSC. The twine will not affect the speed of the cars but is only to guide the cars along the track to prevent them colliding or running off track. 9. Sketches/Drawings, and design notes etc. shall be brought to the contest for the judges to inspect and question the contestants/teams. 10. Each Car shall be given a Name which the team can display on the car by printing, painting etc. Optional specifications: 1. Parts not listed under mandatory may be changed for others of the contestant s choice. The use of alternate parts may be justified by the design notes or at the interview 4

5 2. The contestants may select from the supplied set of pulleys, gears or propeller, or use their own alternatives. The Tracks The tracks will be defined by twine stretched from before the start line to beyond the finish line. Each car will be tethered to a twine to facilitate its running on a straight line, and not collide or run off track. The cars will be racing 20 metres. The tracks themselves will be longer. The width of the track shall be not less than 70 cm. This is to accommodate the contestant s body width to start the car. Judging Criteria The judges will be given guidelines for judging as well as standardised questions etc. to minimise personal differences in judging. Each team and contestant will face a series of judges each of whom will judge only a specific aspect of the contestants knowledge, as well as how they measure the current, voltage, resistance etc. A set of sample questions with hints and answers, along with guidelines for better presentation skills will be available on our web-site for the contestants to know what type of questions will be asked and what is expected of their presentations. 5