Engineering and Science Challenge Regional Competition

Members have been assisting at this all week. Schools enter teams of up to 35 students who are in Year 10. Teams are put into smaller teams and given challenges and the equipment they need to achieve a result. The "Bridge Busting" is the highlight of each day. Using things like balsa wood, sticky tape, pop-sticks and more they attempt to build the lightest weight bridge to take the greatest load. Testing across the bridge is nerve-wracking as the loads are progressively increased, points being scored for each successful pass of the weighted trolley. The winner on Wednesday weighed only 60 grams and survived intact under a load of 5 Kgms. Other teams might create a steerable hovercraft from balsa, pop-sticks, sticky tape and small motors running a remotely steered propeller, or discover how coded messages can be sent using combinations of coloured light flashes. The challenges relate to the everyday problems, compromises and needs of our society such as efficient energy distribution, "Who gets the Water" and so on. Each small team contributes their points scored to their school team total which is added up to the daily grand total.The daily winners go to the Super Challenge in late August and the winners from there go to the National Challenge. Club members love going to the Challenge each year as we enjoy the interaction with these young people.