Contest Orientation

This Year’s Challenge Transport an Object Carnegie Science Center – –Friday, December 12, 2014   7:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Chain Reaction Contraption Contest Pre-contest day activities Register and set-up(7:00 – 8:00) Preliminary Round(8:00 – 11:30)  Operations Judging  Special Awards Judging Special Awards Winners & Finalists(12:00-12:30) Final Round(12:45-3:30)  Operations Judging Final Awards Ceremony(3:45-4:00)

Awards Operations Judging The top 3 teams will receive prizes  For the School  For the 4 Official Team Members Special Awards Judging Best Use of Gravity Rookie of the Year Longest Successfully Executed Contraption Best Presentation Most Efficient Reset Best Execution of a Theme

Official Handbook Check out the handbook for a complete list of rules, score sheets, forms, available points, potential deductions and important dates!

Photographic Progress Reports A picture or two of the contraption's evolution Summary of what has happened  Issues/challenges  Innovative applications  The list of steps is no longer required Due Oct 24 th, Nov 14 th and Dec 5 th

Contraption Materials Teams must provide an assessment of the total cost of the contraption and the % of used materials  $100 max budget New materials  Materials that are donated or purchased in new condition  Use fair market value (e.g. Lowes) or actual cost Used materials  Materials that are recycled or scavenged for use  Use reasonable assessment (garage sale/Goodwill)

Team Participation Max of 4 students to represent the contraption on contest day  More than 4 can participate in contraption design and build Each registered school may register one additional team for the contest.  An individual student may participate on one team  Additional schools that participate on contest day will be determined based on available space  available spaces will be determined by random selection of registered additional teams.  Only one team per school can compete in the final round of the contest.

Several Key Questions How well does the contraption complete the requirements of the task? How unique and creative is the approach to achieving the task? How creative is the engineering design of the contraption?

Tips for Success – Pre-contest Step 1 – Read the Handbook!  Pay attention to the score sheets while planning your contraption and contest day strategy. Come up with a design and construction plan  Set a schedule  Complete all activities on-time and in-full Dream, Build, Test and Revise – Think Repeatable  Be patient, allow time to correct the flaws  Be bold: change a step if it does not perform consistently  Be creative and don’t get discouraged Practice

Tips for Success – Contest Day Anticipate what could happen  Emergency supplies and consumables (your “triage kit”)  Transportation issues Show your hard work  A polished verbal presentation “sells” your contraption  Highlight key, unique and creative approaches and steps Contraption Operation  Have a checklist and use it to make sure everything is right before starting each run.  Check with the judges before touching the contraption.  Relax and have Fun!

Contraption Jeopardy What is the maximum size limit for the contraption? What is the minimum amount of time the contraption must operate in a single run? How many points are deducted for a human intervention? What is the minimum expected number of steps? What is the first pre-contest deliverable?

Contraption Jeopardy How many students can represent the contraption for the judges on contest day? What is the maximum budget allowed for the contraption? What is a “restart”? How long do the students have to complete the verbal presentation? How many points are available for the pre-contest submittals?

Contraption Demonstration Contest – Construct a Building

Contraption Demonstration Contest – Fill a Container and Close It

Contraption Demonstration Contest – Communicate a Message

Questions?

Step Definition A step is defined as an action that results in another action working towards the final goal of the contraption. For example, the act of tipping over a block of wood with a rolling ball is a step. The actual tipping motion of the block is NOT a step, unless it causes another action to occur. A series of the same actions repeated (such as dominoes knocking each other over or a ball hitting another ball) is considered to be one step in the spirit of the Chain Reaction Contraption Contest.

Conceptual Design An illustrative drawing or drawings of your ideas for your contraption Does not need to match contest day contraption Detailed step information is not required Due October 10 th

Rules Dimensions  The finished contraption must not exceed 5 ft x 3 ft x 2 ft. The contraption, while operating, must remain inside the dimensions. The platform is included in the maximum dimension measurement.

Rules Restarts & Human Interventions  If your contraption should fail during its operation, you may decide whether to:  continue the run by helping a step along (a human intervention)  give up on the run and starting over (a restart) Time Limit  Each contraption must take at least 30 seconds to run completely through its steps and must not run longer than 2 minutes.  Your reset must take less than 4 minutes.