2013 ASME Student Mechanism & Robot Design Competition
37th Annual Mechanisms & Robotics Conference
August 4-7, 2013 ~ Portland, OR, USA
Eligibility
Any graduate or undergraduate registered as a full-time student through the spring of 2013 is eligible to participate. Both individual and group projects are welcome. An individual may participate in several entries provided each submission is on a different subject.
Scope
For this competition, a mechanism is defined as:
Any device that transmits a force or a motion to perform a mechanical task. It may consist of rigid or deformable bodies connected with kinematic or flexural joints. It may be constructed of any type of materials, including smart and other active materials. It may be actuated by means of any transduction principle and employ any form of energy input. The size of the device can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale.
For this competition, a robot is defined as:
An electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. A robot should be able to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical linkage, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, such as behavior that mimics humans or other animals. The size of a robot can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale.
Consult the FAQs or contact the competition coordinators if you have any questions about whether your mechanism/robot falls within the scope of this contest.
Submission
Please refer to the Submission Page for information on the required documents to submit and the submission process.
Judging
Award certificates and other prizes (TBA) will be presented at the conference luncheon. The prizes will be distributed among the winners in each division. Attendance at the conference is required to receive a prize. Cash awards typically range from $100-$400 – with specific amounts subject to funds provided by industry sponsors.
Awards
The letter of intent will not be evaluated. It is required only to enable the organizing committee arrange for judging. The project reports will be evaluated by multiple judges chosen from both industry and academe. Guidelines for the Letter of Intent and the Report are on the Submissions page. Up to five finalists will be selected from each of the three divisions – mechanism-graduate, mechanism-undergraduate, and robot. Criteria for choosing the finalists will be based on the Final Report Scoring Rubric. All finalists will be required to make oral presentations at the sessions devoted for this purpose at the conference. Travel expenses to the conference will be the responsibility of the participant(s) or the faculty sponsor, although an effort will be made to allocate some money to help defray travel expenses. See the Travel Funds page for more information.
Each oral presentation will last 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of question and answer. To determine the winners, the judges present at the oral presentations evaluate the designs based on the Finalist Presentation Scoring Rubric. Winners will be announced at the Mechanisms and Robotics Conference luncheon.
Important Dates
Letter of Intent - due March 15, 2013
Final Written Report - due April 19, 2013
The Final Report is due 11:59pm US Pacific Time (midnight) on Friday (April 19, 2013) night.
Note: This is a firm deadline; late submissions will not be accepted. Please refer to the Submissions Page for more information.
Notification to Finalists -
June 3, 2013
Final Round -
August 4-7, 2013
Contest Organizer
Organizers
Girish Krishnan
University of Michigan
gikrishn@umich.edu
Division Coordinators: