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This is not your typical final exam.
In the basement of Hackerman Hall, 54 nervous freshmen gathered on a Wednesday afternoon for an annual rite of passage - the mouse-trap and rubber-band vehicle competition. They came in groups of three students, holding their contraptions -powered only by springs and rubber bands. All held hope of placing their payloads - in this case, $10 Chipotle gift cards - over the finish line first.
Their task was straightforward: Use no more than $15 to construct a vehicle, powered only by mouse traps and rubber bands, that could accomplish the task of carrying a payload across an 8-foot obstacle course. The allotted time was 60 seconds. But this was no simple course. The vehicles had to clear a 5-inch-high overpass and either climb or catapult cargo over a 2-foot-long wooden barrier to the finish line. And then there were the rules. The teams had to abide by 27 rules that covered everything from materials allowed to reasons for disqualification.
In its 9th year, the annual competition serves as the final project for freshman mechanical engineering students in the Mechanical Engineering Freshman Laboratory. A written exam is given too. Allison Okamura, professor of mechanical engineering, redesigned the curriculum several years ago to include more of these hands-on design experiences. She's taught the course for the last three of four years.
"The purpose of this competition is to take the things students are learning in their mechanical engineering classes and use them in the real world," Okamura says. "They can not use electricity or other power sources. The energy must come from springs, which are from mouse traps, and rubber bands."
Though the students adhere to the same rules, their design ideas are so varied. Some are wooden. Some are foam core. Some are tall, with long, long arms. Others are short, fat, and feature cans in their construction. For wheels, CDs are popular. And then there are team names. This year's competition featured Wagon Wheel, Team Awesome, Team Shake ‘n Bake, Team American and Team Platypus, among others.
As the hoots and hollers continued, the competition narrowed from 18 teams to four teams. Shelby Strauss, 18, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and her team, Team Rocket, were knocked out in the first round. "We put too much weight at the front of the vehicle so there wasn't enough traction in the back wheels," she recounted. A friend consoled her, joking: "Are you sure it wasn't that there wasn't enough friction in the floor?"
The final heat came down to a contest between Team Platypus and Team Barnett. In the end, Team Barnett pulled out an upset victory--one that was surprising because they had nearly been disqualified earlier when their mouse trap failed to trigger properly. "Did that just happen?" exclaimed a surprised Patrick Tamm, 18, of Potomac, Md., of the victory.
Team Platypus considered the race a success too. "Our idea was simple and straight-forward," says Brandon Fishman, 18, of Commack, N.Y., who partnered with Aaron Rips, 18, of Tarzana, Calif. and Aric Rousso, 19, of Los Angeles. "Our vehicle may not have been the fastest, but it worked every single time."
In the end, Team Barnett, consisting of Tamm, Max Robinson, 18, of Rye, N.Y. and Vincent Wang, 18, of Fairlawn, N.J., said they were glad they had abandoned an earlier idea to use a propeller. The team was named in honor of the students' laboratory teaching assistant, Andrew Barnett
Instead, the students went with a simple wheel and axle design, with a rubber band wrapped around the axle. They tightened the rubber band by turning the back wheels. At race time, they released the wheels, letting her rip. In hindsight, Tamm says, "It was a great way to learn."
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