New Future Engineers Challenge Focuses on Expandable Objects

May 20, 2016

The ASME Foundation and NASA are celebrating two recent additions to the International Space Station — the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the space station’s first inflatable habitat, and the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF), the first commercial 3D printer in space — with a new Future Engineers competition that challenges K-12 students to explore the limits of 3D printing.

Entries are being accepted through Aug. 1 for the new competition, which has been named the Think Outside the Box Challenge. The new challenge is the fourth in a series of 3D printing competitions offered through the Future Engineers program, which was launched in 2014 by the ASME Foundation and NASA to help teach young people about 3D printing and engineering design.

Arriving on the heels of the Star Trek Replicator Challenge, which was issued earlier this year, the Think Outside the Box Challenge asks students to design an object that assembles, telescopes, hinges, grows, or otherwise expands to become larger than the printing constraints of the AMF 3D printer, which are 14 centimeters long by 10 centimeters wide by 10 centimeters high. The object must not only be expandable; it should also be practical for use by an astronaut living in microgravity on the International Space Station.

Entries will be judged on such criteria as the innovation and creativity of the object design, the usefulness of the object on the International Space Station, the quality of the 3D model, and compliance with the design guidelines. Students will also be evaluated on their communication skills during the presentation portion of the competition.

Prizes will be awarded in two categories: the junior age group for students from 5 to 12 years old, and the teen division for students aged 13 to 19. The grand prize winner in each age group will win a trip to Las Vegas for a tour of Bigelow Aerospace to learn more about expandable spacecraft. The trip will include travel costs and accommodations for each winner and one parent. Four finalists in each division will win an inflatable tent for their families. Ten semifinalists in each category will each win a $50 Shapeways Gift Certificate.

Entries for the Think Outside the Box Challenge are due Aug. 1. Semifinalists will be announced Sept. 8, and the four finalists will be announced Sept. 20. The grand prize winners will be announced on Oct. 6.

In other Future Engineers news, the entries for the Star Trek Replicator Challenge, which closed May 1, are currently being reviewed. The semifinalists and finalists for that challenge will be announced June 3 and 10, respectively. The finalists will be interviewed by the competition judges on June 28, and the winners will be announced July 5.

To learn more about the Future Engineers Think Outside the Box Challenge, visit http://futureengineers.org/thinkoutsidethebox. For more information on the Future Engineers program, visit http://futureengineers.org.