Tech Day, Illinois State University.

Category: Innovation and Invention
Task: To make a device that releases the ball to a minimum of 12inch and the ball should return to the initial position. Repeat the process as many times as possible under 30 seconds.

Plan:

Forgive for the bad handwriting we had only 1.5 hour to complete the whole design our mouse trap broke in midst of the construction. * Colors are inverted to make it more clearer

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Design parts:

1. Cone to catch the ball: We made an enormous cone of about  6inch in diameter. It wasnt exactly in a conical shape, but it was able to catch the ball efficiently.

2.Mouse Trap shooter: We used the mouse trap to shoot the ball at the cone. We figured out that the mouse trap was shooting with more force than we need it to so we used couple of rubber bands on the opposite side to reduce the force.

3. Feeder pipe: This was probably the hardest thing to design because it was very time consuming task to make the pipe turn and also to make.

Difficulties faced:

1. Mouse Trap Broken: Our mouse trap broke just an half an hour before the due time.  We did not waste time getting a new one but instead we glued it and instead of using force from spring we solely used to force from the rubberbands.

2. Feeder pipe: It was taking us a lot of time to make the feeder pipe turn therefore, instead of making the whole pipe turn we made a curved wall to guide the ball back to its position.

Results:

First Trial: 8shoots in 30 seconds ~ 0.27 shoots/sec

Second trial: 15 shoots in 30 seconds ~ 0.5 shoots/sec

Competition highest: 22 shoots in 30 seconds ~ 0.73 shoots/sec

Lessons learned:

We had an efficient design but unlike the best design out ball took a longer route i.e. swirling through the cone  to the pipe to the starting place. The best design had ball going up and down the same slope! I appreciate the best design and I am happy that they were from my school!

More Pictures:

 

 

In all the pictures the mouse trap is unloaded.