The Engineering Design Show is currently in full swing here, with the competitions for the various design projects. The white-line followers kicked off proceedings. They were pretty impressive, with all but one team successfully being able to follow the (very squiggly) line without mistakes. There were traps to confuse the robots – the line got thinner and thicker, crossed over itself, had abrupt corners and so on, but the robots were well programmed and coped with this easily. The winning group was impressive indeed. They had some very carefully optimized control parameters, meaning that the robot was (a) really straight and fast on a straight-line section but also (b) precise round the turns, slowing down just enough to take each turn at about the right speed. I think anyone would struggle to get something going quicker than this one.
On show at the moment are the third year mechanical engineering students who have designed a pin-collecting machine. The idea is that the vehicle pulls still pins (about 5 cm in length, maybe 5 mm in diameter) out of a board – the one that collects all the pins in the quickest possible time and drops them back in the collecting bin is the winner. The most striking conclusion from this exercise is the emphasis on the old adage "To finish first, first you must finish". A good proportion of the entries have died part way through the process – pins have jammed the mechanisms, the motors have failed, or, in one disappointing case, the machine collected the pins in lightning quick time and then failed to go back to deposit them in the collecting bin. Also, we've seen one machine disqualified for being downright dangerous – its first run saw it pulling pins out of the board and firing them across the room causing spectators to beat a hasty retreat.
But the winner (or so it looks) has pushed their luck to the limit. The "…first you must finish" line is actually not quite correct. More accurate would be to say "…second you must finish. First, you must start". They've admitted to putting 5 volts over a motor rated at 3 volts in practice just before the event, and frying the motor. They then had to hurridly locate a replacement and install it while the competition was in progress. Missing their first two rounds, they appeared looking hot and sweaty just in time for their run in round 3 out of 4 and simply destroyed the rest of the competition. (Presumably it won't be long before they destroy their new motor too, but it's survived long enough to win, according to the rules, and that's what counts.)
Overall the design show has been great fun to be a part of and has really demonstrated the skills that the students have acquired. Well one everyone involved!
Postscript 29 October 2014: We're a hit with the Waikato Times!