The Rp Derby: A Design/Build/Test Experience For High School Students

This paper details a weeklong summer session held on the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) campus for high school students. The design experience, called the Rapid Prototyping (RP) Derby, was modeled after the pine car race competitions held by civic organizations; however, it made use of solid modeling and rapid prototyping tools available on campus to allow the students to design, visualize, fabricate, and test their scale model vehicles. Students were initially led through a solid modeling exercise, employing the SolidWorks software package. With faculty assistance, the students were then encouraged to design their own scale model car body, within size constraints. After completing their vehicle design, the car bodies designed by the students were built using Laminated Object Modeling (LOM), a rapid prototyping technology. After receiving the parts from the LOM, the students performed finishing, final assembly, and decoration of their model cars. The testing phase included both wind tunnel testing of scale model vehicles and a race competition. The design/build/test activities were augmented with theoretical topics related to the design of vehicles; applications of ergonomics, materials engineering, and aerodynamics in vehicle design were discussed. This balance of hands-on design/build/test activities and the exposure to topics in engineering science provided the students with a broad exposure to the field of mechanical engineering. It was well received by the participants, and will be used as a model for future programs at MSOE.