THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509260107
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
IT RESEMBLED a miniature demolition derby using dump trucks left over from a low-budget science fiction movie or some kind of robotic basketball game.
At times it took on the characteristics of a tank battle, with some of the elements of a sports contest, complete with fans cheering in the stands.
The event was the third annual International Engineering Design Challenge at Old Dominion University on Sept. 20. Twelve ODU undergraduate engineering students and 12 micro-engineering students from Fachhochschule Wilhelmshaven in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, took part in the competition.
The event is modeled after a similar engineering competition held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
``The purpose is to train students to work with engineers from other countries and cultures,'' explained Steve Wells, faculty coordinator and technical adviser to the contest.
The students formed 12 teams, each consisting of a German and an American student. Each team had two weeks to build a remote-controlled vehicle, using the same basic materials. Last week's contest was a competition between the vehicles constructed by the different teams on a specially constructed ``playing field.''
Two teams competed at a time, each using half of the field. Each had to use its vehicle to move pingpong balls from a cannister at its end of the field into one of two baskets on a raised portion in the middle. Each team member got to drive the vehicle, with 90 seconds to accomplish the task. The team placing the most balls in its basket was the winner for that round.
Once a team had placed at least one ball in its basket it then could practice ``defensive measures,'' attempting to prevent the other team from transferring the balls into its basket.
Tactics and strategy emerged early. Clearly, the best defense was a good offense. Teams with faster and more maneuverable vehicles rammed, blocked and tipped their opponents, even trying to flip them off the playing field.
ODU student Richard Brooks offered a good reason for giving it his best shot: ``It's part of my grade.''
For the ODU students, the project represents 20 percent of their grade in MET 405, a mechanical engineering technology course. The student on the winning team gets to skip the final exam, also weighted 20 percent, making victory worth 40 percent of the course grade.
The German students don't receive academic credit for their participation. They are still on summer break. Their classes resume in October. In Germany, however, several competitions were held to determine which students would come.
``The German students are motivated by opportunities to work on an international student engineering team,'' said Bertram Muller of Wilhelmshaven. ``The first time, it seems like only fun, but a lot of things go on behind these projects.''
How many hours went into designing and building the vehicles?
``A lot,'' ODU student James Dingus said. ``Even on weekends.''
Three of the teams were coed, with one American and two German women participating. Ulrike Heyn and her American partner, Tom Henderson, entered a vehicle named ``Der Dog Box.''
Two rounds of matches reduced the 12 teams down to three. Various vehicles attempted to dump balls into the baskets. Several shot them in, as well as into the audience. Some vehicles had projections to hook onto and disable rival vehicles. Several had hoppers that raised and lowered. The student operators waved them after scoring over their opponents.
By the end of the second round, spirits and emotions were running high among participants, faculty, family and friends. Several young children scurried about retrieving errant balls, looking on enviously as if wishing they, too, could play with the marvelous toys.
Next came a double-elimination round. The spectators cheered wildly when Lonnette Greene, the only American woman to compete, defeated her opponent. But Greene's team was eliminated later. The final match saw Preston Hall and Lars Moehring on one side and Brian Halterman and Marcus Hoppe on the other. The end was anticlimactic, as Halterman and Hoppe's team defeated their opponents and disabled their vehicle before the end of the match.
``I came to work with and speak with Americans,'' Hoppe said, ``to see how they live and how creative they are.''
``The competition is based on teamwork,'' noted Halterman, who is from Timberville, Va.
``It was fun,'' Hoppe added. ``We had a good team. We tried out many ideas before we made this car.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by DAWSON MILLS
Tom Henderson watches while his partner, Ulrike Heyn, controls their
vehicle in the International Engineering Design Challenge.
by CNB