It was an early morning day at the race track for the students in instructor Nicole Pflum's Engineering 113 class.
The vehicles being used in this hilly experiment were made by the students and had to travel 15 feet, up and down a hilly track.
Here is what Pflum said about the classroom race/scientific experiment:
"Today 18 students in ENGR 113 demonstrated their semester design project. The project was to make a self-propelled vehicle that would make it at least 9 feet of a 15 foot curved track. The teams had alpha and beta test runs on the track that helped them redesign the vehicle for this last run.
In first place: "Lucky 7-3" made it 18 feet to the end of the track using tank-like treads instead of wheels. Their innovation and continual redesigns paid off.
In second place: “Scorporation” went 13.3 feet. This team had a great overall design, but the weight on the back gave them issues going up the last big hill.
In third place: “Convex Machinery” went 6.9 feet. This car was so fast it jumped off the track. It also had great attention to detail. One of their team members vacuum formed a model car and panted the body.
The other teams did a great job. They continually worked as cohesive groups this semester and made great designs. Their cars needed more torque to make it up the hills, but their designs were good.
It is great to see students learning hands-on the design process. The issues they face now make them better at problem solving and being real engineers in the future."
To see more photos from this morning's race, check out our photo gallery over on Flickr.
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