Welcome
Announcements
Important datesOfficial rules
Eligibility & scopeJudging
Awards
Organizers
FAQs
Flyer
Submission
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Sponsors
The 2010 ASME Student Mechanism & Robot Design Competition
presented by
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ASME International Design
Engineering Technical Conferences
34th Annual Mechanisms & Robotics Conference
August 15 – 18,
2010
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Welcome
The ASME Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition is an excellent opportunity for both undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their ability to design and build a mechanism or a robot.The competition comprises two rounds:
Round 1: is the qualifying round. Participants submit a letter of intent and a written report on their entry. All entries are evaluated by a panel of judges chosen from academe and industry. The top five entries in each category qualify for Round 2.
Round 2: is the final round that takes place at the 2010 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Montreal, Canada from August 15–18, 2010. Each team makes an oral presentation describing their entry. They are also allotted display space for an interactive poster and prototype presentation.
Navigate this site for information regarding this year’s competition. Please check the Announcements section regularly for important and time sensitive information pertaining to this competition. We look forward to your participation.
Announcements
Letter of Intent – April 2, 2010. Deadline extended to April 16, 2010.Final Written Report – May 3, 2010
Notification to Finalists – June 15, 2010
Reminder
The National Science Foundation has provided funding to support the travel costs of up to two participants from each design team that makes it to the
finals (Round 2). The funds will cover the ASME IDETC registration, hotel stay, transportation (airfare), and meals (on a per diem basis). Students from all US-based institutions are eligible for this. Please submit receipts for all reimbursable costs to the competition organizers at the conference venue to be eligible for reimbursement.
Conference registration reimbursement for finalists from non US-based institutions (New!)
- Free SolidWorksTM software for participating teams
Official Rules
Here you will find all of the relevant small print and other information to help you succeed in the competition. Pay special attention to the due dates as late entries will not be accepted. Additionally, scoring rubrics for the final reports and presentations have been provided so that you know how your project will be evaluated.Any graduate or undergraduate registered as a full-time student through the spring of 2010 is eligible to participate. Both individual and group projects are welcome. An individual may participate in several entries provided each submission is on a different subject.
Scope
Any device that transmits a force or a motion to perform a mechanical task. It may consist of rigid or deformable bodies connected with kinematic or flexural joints. It may be constructed of any type of materials, including smart and other active materials. It may be actuated by means of any transduction principle and employ any form of energy input. The size of the device can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale.
For this competition, a robot is defined as:
An electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. A robot should be able to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical linkage, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, such as behavior that mimics humans or other animals. The size of a robot can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale.
Consult the FAQs or contact the competition coordinators if you have any questions about whether your mechanism/robot falls within the scope of this contest.
Judging
The letter of intent will not be evaluated. It is required only to enable the organizing committee arrange for judging. The project reports will be evaluated by multiple judges chosen from both industry and academe. Guidelines for the Letter of intent and the Report are on the Submissions page. Up to five finalists will be selected from each of the three divisions – mechanism-graduate, mechanism-undergraduate, and robot. Criteria for choosing the finalists will be based on the Final Report Scoring Rubric. All finalists will be required to make oral presentations at the sessions devoted for this purpose at the conference. Travel expenses to the conference will be the responsibility of the participant(s) or the faculty sponsor, although an effort will be made to allocate some money to help defray travel expenses.Each oral presentation will last 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of question and answer. To determine the winners, the judges present at the oral presentations evaluate the designs based on the Finalist Presentation Scoring Rubric. Winners will be announced at the Mechanisms and Robotics Conference luncheon.
Awards
Award certificates and other prizes (TBA) will be presented at the conference luncheon. The prizes will be distributed among the winners in each division. Attendance at the conference is required to receive a prize. Cash awards typically range from $100-$400 – with specific amounts subject to funds provided by industry sponsors. See the anouncement of travel funds for finalists.Organizing Committee
Contest Organizer:
David J. CappelleriStevens Institute of Technology
David.Cappelleri@stevens.edu
Division Coordinators:
| Mechanisms-Undergraduate Brian Trease Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA trease@asme.org | Mechanisms-Graduate Nilesh D. Mankame General Motors Research & Development nilesh.mankame@gm.com | Robots Yu Zhou Stony Brook University yuzhou@notes.cc.sunysb.edu |
FAQs
1. Are past class/internship/co-op projects eligible for entry in this competition?Yes – provided they have not been presented at a similar forum previously. All participants must be students as confirmed by a faculty advisor.
2. What format will the oral presentations follow?
Each team will be allotted 15 minutes for their presentation. This time includes questions and answers as well as changeover of speakers. An LCD projector and screen will be made available; the team is expected to bring their own laptops.
3. What format will the poster presentations follow?
Each poster should be no bigger than 4 feet (tall) by 3 feet (wide). Push pins, display frames/easels and a table will be provided for each poster. Participants are encouraged to bring prototypes of their entries for display/demonstration alongside the posters.
4. Where and when will the poster and oral presentations/ technical sessions be held?
All sessions related to this competition are scheduled for Mon, Aug 16, 2010.
- Undergraduate Mechanism Design Competition (Technical session #2-14-1): 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Location TBD
- Graduate Mechanism Design Competition (Technical session #2-14-2): 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Location TBD
- Robot Design Competition (Technical session #2-14-3): 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, Location TBD
- Poster session - all categories (#2-14-5): 2:00 - 5:30 PM, Location TBD
The awards ceremony will be held during the MECH luncheon. Only attendees who have selected this particular luncheon during registration can attend the awards ceremony. An NSF grant allows us to reimburse the cost of registration and lunch for all U.S.-based finalists.
6. How can I get an invitation letter to apply for a visa to attend the conference?
ASME members, authors and attendees registered to attend the conference can apply for an invitation letter at the conference website http://www.asmeconferences.org/IDETC2010/VisaInfo.cfm .
Select event: IDETC/CIE 2010
Qualifying criteria: use your ASME member ID number or the Conference Registration Number/Invoice number.
General information on travel to Canada can be found at: http://www.asmeconferences.org/IDETC2010/TravelTransport.cfm .
7. What about prototypes that are too big to be transported to the conference site for the final round?
Experience has shown that actual working prototypes attract most attention in the final round. Accordingly, the participants are encouraged to choose a scale for their project that makes it feasible to transport their prototypes to the conference venue. When this is infeasible, the use of cardboard/ plastic / foam core mock-ups, prototypes of key sub-systems/components, videos, etc can be explored.
When the physical prototypes are too big to be brought to the conference site, we recommend using videos that capture the functioning of the system and highlight the key design features. The videos should be accompanied by a letter from the faculty mentor attesting to a) his/her observation of the system function and the key design features, and b) his/her evaluation of the robustness of the prototype.
Note that the travel funds do not cover the cost of transporting or storing the prototypes. Moreover, the competition organizers cannot provide space for storing the prototypes or guarantee security of the prototypes at the conference venue. Please consult your faculty mentor to decide the scope and size of your prototypes keeping the above points in mind.
Competition flyer
A flyer to advertise the competition can be downloaded here.Sponsors
We are grateful for the support of MathWorks Incorporated, Dynalloy Incorporated and DS SolidWorks Corporation, as well as continuing support from the National Science Foundation. If you would like to be a sponsor for this competition, please contact Prof. Dave Capelleri (David.Cappelleri@stevens.edu).
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