Year: 2024
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: How can balsa wood bridge competitions compete with the excitement associated with robotics and rocket competitions?Balsa wood bridge competitions of the past struggle to create the same level of excitement students encounter with other competitions.Rule changes from year to year keep regular participants from repetitively winning the competition with the same bridge, but there are several ways to increase excitement and create suspense depending on scope and budget of the competition.The goal of such changes should be to maintain the participants interest while still supporting the overall objective of the primary competition.This paper presents the details associated with a balsa wood bridge competition that uses a different format from those of the past and has incorporated several additional features to maintain interest and raise the level of excitement.Contained hereafter is the background of the competition which began in the spring of 2011, the details of the competition in its current form, bridge design workshops, instrumentation, video displays, and competition day logistics, along with lessons learned and potential future enhancements.
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41146
Authors: J Carroll, Kyle Mitchell
Institution: Saint Louis University
Language: English
Subfield: Architecture
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4391561412