NETTUR TECHNICAL TRAINING FOUNDATION (AN ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED ORGANISATION) CREATIVITY OLYMPIAD THE OLYMPICS OF COMPLEXITY

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1 Prelude:- CREATIVITY OLYMPIAD Inspired by the work of American and British Cartoonist Reuben Lucius Goldberg and W. Heath Robinson respectively, the spirit of their work inspires the contest's weird machines and crazy contraptions. William Heath Robinson (31 May September 1944) was an English cartoonist and illustrator best known for drawings of ridiculously complicated machines for achieving simple objectives. Reuben Garrett Lucius "Rube" Goldberg (July 4, 1883 December 7, 1970) was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways, similar to Heath Robinson devices in the UK, as well as the Storm P devices in Denmark. Such contests are being held widely in all colleges and schools world - wide since the 1980 s to challenge young students and engineers to explore their creativity and innovation. 1

2 The Challenge:- A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption, invention, device or apparatus that is deliberately over-engineered or overdone to perform a very simple task in a very complicated fashion, usually including a chain reaction. RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE are designed to encourage teamwork and out-of-the-box problem solving. These machines should tackle the most mundane tasks and the participants have to create their own overly elaborate and hilariously conceived wacky contraptions in honor of the competition s founding father Rube Goldberg ( ). The participants are encouraged to use the every-day objects to create Rube Goldberg Machine and to integrate as many recycled items as possible & Imagine the kinetic component of everything in the world around them and put it into motion in their Rube Goldberg Machine. TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NTTF CREATIVITY OLYMPIAD:- 1. Each centre shall finalize a team of at least 4 staff. [tentatively by 10 th Jan 2017] 2. Register the team with Co-ordinator. [tentatively by the 3rd week of Jan] 3. Design and build a machine (as per the rules) to fulfill the given task. [The theme of the task is given separately] NOTE: Steps, pieces and components from previous machines may be recycled, but ingenuity of the participants to create entirely new machines for each year s contest is encouraged. 4. Competition will be held in two phases, Phase-I :- Unit level competition [tentatively in the 1 st week of Feb] Phase-II :- Foundation level competition [15 th & 16 th Feb 2018] 5. Win if the judges choose your team. 6. Have fun! 2

3 1. START ATEAM All Teams -Must comprise of at least 2 staff as members. -Must have a team Captain who will be present at the Contest. -May have a facilitator, whose attendance at the Contest is not required. 2. REGISTER Contest registration will open from 15th Jan to 20 th Jan DESIGN AND BUILD A MACHINE The task is determined by the apex steering committee and it changes on an annual basis. The task will be announced by 26 Dec Machine Specifications & Rules Sl.no Specification Minimum Maximum 1 Steps 5 steps 20 steps 2 Height None 4 feet 3 Overall Footprint Area None 5 feet x 5 feet Machine volume 4 (Footprint Area x Height of highest None point on the machine) 100 ft 3 5 Single run time (Working cycle of m/c) 1 minute 3 minutes 6 Machine explanation 5 minutes 10 minutes 7 Reset time None 44 minutes 8 Air compressor hoses, AC or DC power cords, and/or water hoses running to or from the machine 0 2 total 9 Hazardous materials, explosives, or flames Not allowed 10 Electric arcing Allowed with safety precautions 11 Live animals Not allowed Use of profane, indecent, or lewd expressions Objects flying beyond machine footprint Not allowed Not allowed 14 Safety for participants & observers Required 15 Completion of task Required 3

4 4. COMPETITION Time to Contest Prior to the Contest Event 4 hours prior Host will provide adequate setup time in the Contest venue 2 hours prior 30 minutes prior Submit 1 concise, typed copy of a step-by-step description of the machine to the jury. All machines must be set up and area surrounding them cleared During the Contest Teams will compete in a Science Fair format. Each machine will be assigned a judging time slot. During that slot, the teams will present their machine, commence a first run, reset their machine, and commence a second run within the required allotted time. There are NO VOIDED RUNS (Steps that have been omitted). The entire machine presentation, first run, reset, and second run are judged. Teams are encouraged to run their machines and answer questions from the audience when not being judged. Specification Minimum Maximum Verbal presentation length 05 minutes 10 minutes Team members participating None 04 members Team members in contact with machine during "Contest Run" None 02 members Reset time limit None 44 minutes Human intervention NA 4 times Destructive action against other machines Contest Disqualification After the Contest Machines must be removed and the area cleaned by a time determined by the Host. 4

5 1) The number of members per team will be 4. The Rules (In detail) 2) Each team must create a machine to accomplish the stated task. 3) The dimensions of the machine not to exceed 5 x5 feet in area, with a height of 4 feet. 4) Teams must arrive at the competition venue with all their materials required for erection / operation of the machine. 5) The team may bring plans, templates, design, construction, and presentation aids. 6) Each team must submit to the jury, one (1) concise, typed copy of a step-by-step description of their machine not later than two (2) hour before the contest begins. Diagrams and pictures may be included in this description along with the typed information of materials used along with construction details. 7) No part of a team s machine or any associated material may be attached in any way to the walls, floor, or ceiling of the Competition venue. No action of erection viz, cutting, or drilling shall damage furniture provided at the Competition venue. 8) One member of each team must be designated as the Team Captain. The Captain will lead his or her team s presentation of the machine to the judges, including an explanation of the process of creating the machine, a detailed description of how the machine works (including each step of the process), and the outcome. 9) Each team will have a total time of 60 minutes (10 minutes presentation +3 min 1 st run + 44 min reset + 3 min 2 nd run) Should a team exceed the 60 minutes period, penalty points 0.5 / extra min will be deducted. 10) The team with the highest overall score will win the competition. 11) Prizes will be awarded to the First winning team and 2nd and 3rd place runners up. 12) Teams will be judged in areas of complexity of the machine, machine creativity, and the quality of teamwork / presentation to the judges, number of steps above the minimum of 5 (five), sense of humor etc. 13) Each machine must be safe to the approval of the judges. 14) Machines must incorporate a minimum of 5 (five) different steps in completing the defined task. 5

6 15) A "step" is defined as "a discrete action that, a) contributes to the completion of the Complex task b) transferring or releasing energy (for example from Potential to Kinetic, or from Thermal Energy to Pneumatic etc.) from one action to another. 16) For an action to qualify as a step, the machine must not be able to complete the task if that particular Step fails. 16) An action will not qualify as a step if it is part of a series of side events, any one of which can fail without preventing the machine from completing the task sequence. No action in such a series of irrelevant side events will qualify as a step. Also, repeating actions will not qualify as more than one step. A team will be disqualified from competition if it builds a machine that does not meet this minimum threshold of complexity (5 steps). Example: A series of 50 dominoes collapsing one after the other to hit a switch to turn on a fan. The entire series of 50 dominoes will constitute one step. If the action of the dominoes hitting the switch to turn on the fan is not essential for completing the task then it will not be counted as a Step. 18) PLC s and Micro controllers may be used as a step, but it cannot be used as a fail-safe. In the example above if the dominoes fail to trigger the switch of the fan, and then using a timer circuit /PLC to turn on the fan after some time will cause disqualification. 19) A machine must not imply profane, indecent, or lewd expressions. 20) Each team is responsible for the security of its own machine, but intentional destructive action against other machines will cause disqualification. 21) In addition, misbehavior at any time is grounds for disqualification. 22) A penalty of 5 marks will be deducted per human intervention on a machine performing a successful run, defined as any act necessary to adjust the machine s performance between the start of a run and its completion. 23) A maximum of 4 interventions will be allowed. (when a step fails to activate the next step, Team member may be allowed to use their finger or any means to activate the following step only). 24)Manual intervention will not be allowed to accomplish the final objective / step. 6

7 25) Only Two persons will be allowed to interact with the machine competition. 26) If the objective is not completed 25 marks will be deducted from the score. 27) Any loose or flying objects must remain within the set boundaries of each team s allowable work area (5x5x4 feet).any loose or flying objects going outside the set boundaries of the machine will incur penalties. This includes, but is not limited to, drops of water, slivers of balloon, and other "small" objects. Steam and other gasses if used are exempt from this rule. 28) No live animals may be used in the machine. 29) The teams are allowed to use, External RF or IR or cell phone as a remote control to start the first step only. 30) No EXTERNAL wired or wireless intervention is allowed. Violation of these rules will result in immediate disqualification. 31) Teams will be provided one 5 A 220 V power point only. They must bring their extension boards and cables as required. 32) Teams are allowed to use compressed air, steam, PLCs and microcontrollers or any other electronic controller may be used on the machines. The use of these devices must be in line with a step. Using these devices as a fail-safe for the machine is illegal and grounds for disqualification. 33) Teams cannot use Toxic, hazardous materials, Open Fire, explosives or projectiles which cross the space allotted to them. These will result in disqualification. 34) The machines built must be capable of working repeatedly after a reset. 35) Setup time for initial display will be 4 hours. 36) The Reset Time allotted to each team to prepare their machine for the next round of demonstration will be 44 minutes. 37) Teams will compete with all teams in a designated order. The teams will compete in that order for the first run. After all teams have completed their first run, teams will begin competing in the second run in this same order, for two rounds of Judging. 38) Contestants are responsible for removing their machine and related debris immediately following the contest. 39) Decisions made by Judges and invigilators will remain final and no requests for reviews or reconsiderations will be entertained. 7

8 SAMPLE CONTEST TASKS 1. Zip A Zipper 2. Hammer A Nail 3. Inflate A Balloon and Pop It! 4. Watering A Plant 5. Dispense an Appropriate Amount of Hand Sanitizer into a Hand 6. Replace an Incandescent Light Bulb with a More Energy Efficient Light Emitting Design 7. Assemble a Hamburger 8. Squeeze the Juice from an Orange 9. Shred 5 Sheets of Paper 10. Change Batteries and Turn on a 2-battery Flashlight 11. Select, Mark and Cast an Election Ballot 12. Select, Crush and Recycle and Empty Soft Drink Can 13. Select, Raise and Wave a Flag 14. Select, Clean and Peel an Apple 15. Fill and Seal a Time Capsule with 20th Century Inventions 16. Set a Golf Tee and Tee Up a Golf Ball 17. Shut Off An Alarm Clock 18. Insert and Then Play a CD Disc 19. Put Coins in a Bank 20. Turn on a Radio 21. Make Cup of Coffee 22. Screw a Light Bulb into a Socket 23. Unlock a Combination Padlock 24. Toast a Slice of Bread 25. Put the Lid on a Ball Jar 26. Sharpen a Pencil 27. Adhere a Stamp to a Letter 28. Put Toothpaste on a Toothbrush Watch on YouTube Rube Goldberg Machine Contest 2014 Task:-Zip A Zipper Winning Machine Purdue University. 8

9 THANK YOU 9