My Life as
The Challenge
Background:
The colony has established a foothold on Mars, and surveys by the research geologists have indicated that there may be rich veins of rare element ores—including element 218, Obtainium. You’re a young engineer working for Carryer-Kenny Holdings (CKH)—a large multinational conglomerate with interests in nearly every industry—and want to make your name (and your fortune) on Mars. The shareholders have paid for your trip to Mars, and gave you a pair of Mineral Identification, Nucleation, and Extraction Rigs (MINERs), so all you have to do is find some ore and make your fortune... or at least enough to pay for your ticket home. Unfortunately they forgot to give you a way to move the MINERs around, so you’ll have to build a TRACTOR for Commercializing The Obtainable Resources (TRACTOR) yourself to get the MINERs to where they’re needed. Your intel suggests the most concentrated deposits of Obtainium can be found in Peterson Pediment1, and so you’ve hauled your MINERs and TRACTOR out to the desolation, far from the existing human habitation.
Be careful though; while a permitting system is in place, Mars is a long way from the law and other corporations—including your chief competitor, Gumerlock Heavy Industries (GHI)—are out to beat you to the rocks.
The TRACTOR:
-- Courtesy of ME 218B Teaching Staff and Coaches
The colony has established a foothold on Mars, and surveys by the research geologists have indicated that there may be rich veins of rare element ores—including element 218, Obtainium. You’re a young engineer working for Carryer-Kenny Holdings (CKH)—a large multinational conglomerate with interests in nearly every industry—and want to make your name (and your fortune) on Mars. The shareholders have paid for your trip to Mars, and gave you a pair of Mineral Identification, Nucleation, and Extraction Rigs (MINERs), so all you have to do is find some ore and make your fortune... or at least enough to pay for your ticket home. Unfortunately they forgot to give you a way to move the MINERs around, so you’ll have to build a TRACTOR for Commercializing The Obtainable Resources (TRACTOR) yourself to get the MINERs to where they’re needed. Your intel suggests the most concentrated deposits of Obtainium can be found in Peterson Pediment1, and so you’ve hauled your MINERs and TRACTOR out to the desolation, far from the existing human habitation.
Be careful though; while a permitting system is in place, Mars is a long way from the law and other corporations—including your chief competitor, Gumerlock Heavy Industries (GHI)—are out to beat you to the rocks.
The TRACTOR:
- Your TRACTOR must be a stand-alone entity, capable of meeting all specifications described in this document. Only NiCd/NiMH battery power is allowed. No more than two 7.2 V batteries may be used to drive the motors that transfer force to the ground.
- Each TRACTOR must have a mechanism to designate the TRACTOR as owned by CKH (red) or GHI (blue).
- Each TRACTOR must include a means to clearly indicate to the audience its company status.
- TRACTORs must be autonomous and untethered.
- The only parts of the TRACTOR that may ever touch the playing surface are wheels, ball casters, or slippery supports used to balance the TRACTOR.
- Only the supplied motors may be used to drive anything that transfers force to the ground.
- There must be a bumper surrounding the perimeter of your TRACTOR extending for at least 5 cm vertically, and must fully cover the region between 5 cm and 8 cm (+/-0.5 mm) from the floor.
- The bumper must be covered in a retroreflective tape provided to you by SPDL.
- The bumper and the retroreflective tape must be uninterrupted within the region between 5 cm and 8 cm from the floor.
- Your TRACTOR must be fully contained within a 30 cm cube at the beginning of the mining operations.
- Each TRACTOR must carry an easily accessible switch which shall cut power to the TRACTOR in case of a software or hardware malfunction.
- Each TRACTOR must be constructed as part of ME218b. It may not be based on a commercial or otherwise preexisting platform.
- Any exterior corners on the TRACTOR must have a radius of at least 12 mm.
- The accounting department has limited you to an expenditure of $220.00/team for all materials and parts used in the construction of your project. Materials from the lab kit or the Cabinet Of Freedom do not count against the limit, all other items count at their fair market value.
- Each TRACTOR must provide a clearly visible indicator when it thinks that mining operations are in progress. This indicator should be activated when the TRACTOR determines that mining operations have started and be deactivated when the mining operations status indicates the end of the mining operations.
-- Courtesy of ME 218B Teaching Staff and Coaches
X-J9(x2) at Public Presentation
X-J9(x2) at Public Presentation YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/tcRavR1IrNw