Written by Lily Struble
On Friday, October 27, Wallenpaupack Area High School held its second annual engineering competition. Two teams of five students from Wallenpaupack, Western Wayne, North Pocono, Lakeland, and Abington Heights competed for the grand prize.
The day began with an Introduction in the auditorium, where general rules were discussed, and the judges were introduced. The competition was judged by Vincent Griffin (E.D Pons & Associates), Mitchell Jacobs (Kiley Associates) and Justin Hoffman (Northeast Design Associates).
Teams then moved into the Auxiliary Gym where each team was assigned a table with a box of supplies to use. Judges introduced the challenge: “Design, build, and test a mechanical system prototype tasked with moving a spherical payload into a cup. Each team will be provided with a construction space clearly marked with an area to attach the cup and a location from where the spherical payload will be released (anywhere in the space above) ….
The main goal of the prototype is moving the payload from the starting location to the ending location in 90 seconds (about one and a half minutes) without exceeding the 90 second time window. Also, the payload will be required to stop at least two times for at least two seconds and not more than six seconds, simulating the additional processes that facility requires. Additional stops, up to five total stops would allow for flexibility for the facility but are not required.”
Teams worked through lunch, which was provided by Chef Lewis.
After lunch, the judges seeded each team, evaluating them for later placement in the bracket.
Each team then proceeded to demonstrate its creation. Teams lost points for being outside of the 60-90 second range, having to nudge their marble, missing stops, or not delivering the payload to their cup. Lakeland Team A took the win against North Pocono Team B.
Tank you for covering the Engineering Competition!