Students Take Second at ASME Conference
A team of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology students placed second out of 15 teams during the regional American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) student conference in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The design team were tasked with a design problem to build a device that a quadriplegic could use for fishing. The device needed to be controlled by momentary switches that simulate the sip and puff switches available to quadriplegics.
As part of the competition, the teams needed to submit a written report detailing their device and instructions on how to build such a device that could be followed by a skilled mechanic or technician. The School of Mines team was the only team to receive a perfect score on their written report and also placed first in the accuracy of casting.
"They worked really well together as a team and showed a true competitive spirit by troubleshooting an electrical problem another team was having," Jason Ash, team advisor and instructor, mechanical engineering, said.
More details about the competition can be found at http://www.asme.org/Communities/Students/2006_Rules_Procedures.cfm and a list of participants can be found at http://districts.asme.org/spring2006/CoState/CO-Contestants.htm.
