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Pandora's Box

Introduction

The fantasies have come alive. This is the return of Pandora's Box but the past has brought many changes to it. The evil has been destroyed and the box is now hidden with surprises. The box on unlatching expands to a huge trunk of treasures.

The task is to make a fully mechanical device with a given size constraint and expand to occupy maximum volume by single trigger.

Get ready for another concourse of Science and Fantasy.
History will repeat itself!!

Problem Statement

Make a mechanical system, which fits into a box of size 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm and can expand by a single trigger to occupy maximum volume.

Prizes worth INR 18,000 to be won.

Download the Problem Statement(PDF)
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For further queries contact:

Abhishek Jain
Manager, Events
abhishek.jain[at]techfest[dot]org
Ph. +91 99694 56498 		Ayush Agrawal
Manager, Events
ayush[at]techfest[dot]org
Ph. +91 99301 53549

Arena Specifications

  1. System should be kept on a wooden board of dimensions (45 cm x 45 cm) at a height of 50 cm from the ground.
  2. The board is 18 mm (0.708 inch) thick and have four holes of diameter 8 mm at the corners of a 27 cm X 27 cm square.
  3. The participants can clamp the box to the board using the holes provided or the remaining area on the platform (in addition to the 30 cm x 30 cm area at the centre) at the start of the trial.
Figure 1

View the Specifications

Machine Specifications

The mechanical system should adhere to following constraints :

  1. The system should fit within a box of dimension 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm before expansion.
  2. System can be placed in any orientation on the arena before expansion so that it could be clamped in the defined table.
  3. The system should have an activation mechanism that triggers the expansion.
  4. System need not remain in same shape before and after the expansion.
  5. Touching the system during expansion is not allowed.
  6. The system should expand using only stored potential energy. Use of batteries or any other source of electrical or chemical energy is not allowed.
  7. All the parts of the system should remain intact when the bot expands fully. If a system divides into parts, no points will be awarded for that trial.
  8. The connecting link between any two portions of the system must not be only non-rigid element (such as a spring, string, elastic band, wire etc).
  9. Use of air compressors and balloons is not allowed.

View the Rules

Competition Rules

  1. Each participating team will get 2 trials.
  2. A trial consists of the team placing the system on the arena in any desired orientation and triggering the expansion.
  3. No part of the system(excluding clamping mechanism)should come out of the wooden board (45 cm X 45 cm) before triggering the expansion.
  4. The machine must expand to its maximum size within 60 seconds after triggering.
  5. Triggering must be activated by a single action (eg: cutting a string, pressing a button)
  6. If any part of the system touches ground during or after expansion then no points will be awarded for that turn.
  7. The system should remain stable in its expanded state for atleast another 30 seconds after the expansion ends.
  8. Use of explosives is strictly prohibited.
  9. Clamping is not included in dimensions. While measuring the dimensions, the projections due to clamps will not be considered.

General Rules

  1. The teams must adhere to the spirit of healthy competition.
  2. Any team that is not ready at the time specified will be disqualified from the competition automatically.
  3. The organizers reserve all rights to change any of the above rules as they deem fit. Change in rules, if any will be highlighted on the website.
  4. In case of any discrepancy decision of the judges shall be treated as final and binding on all.

Scoring

  1. The score of each trial will be calculated by measuring the dimensions of the machine along three perpendicular axes. Note that the vertical z-axis: the one perpendicular to the wooden board as mentioned in the figure is fixed but the participants are free to choose the other two orthogonal axes such that the origin lies on the wooden board.
  2. The final score of a trial will be calculated according to following formula :- Score = L1 x L2 x L3 (L1: along x-axis, L2: along y-axis and L3: along z-axis are the lengths measured along the perpendicular axes i.e. the true lengths of the projections along the orthogonal axes will be measured) All lengths will be measured in centimeters, to the nearest integer.
  3. Teams are free to choose x-axis and y-axis but the z-axis remains fixed.
  4. While measuring the lengths, the measurement will be taken only till the last rigid part of the machine.
  5. L3 will only include projections on the vertical axis( perpendicular to board) above the surface of the board. Any projection on the vertical z-axis below the surface of the wooden board will not be considered in measurement of L3.
  6. The final score of the team will be the maximum of 2 trials.
  7. In case of a tie, average score in two trials will be considered.

Eligibility

All students with a valid identity card of their respective educational institutes are eligible to participate.

Team size

A maximum of three members are allowed in a team. Students from different educational institutes are allowed to make a team

Certificate Policy

  1. A participant whose final score is more than 27 x (30cm x 30cm x 30cm) = 729,000cm^3 i.e. 27 times the maximum initial volume allowed before expansion, will be awarded the certificate of participation.
  2. The top three teams will be awarded the certificate of excellence.

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