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Designs On Engineering Success For SAC's Aberdeen Students

Four wheels, a piece of wood and a couple of drills meant competition success for Craibstone-based SAC agriculture students. The group, all members of the Engineering Club, returned from Coventry with enough success to make them want more.

Stuart Hodgkins, Sam Keir, Michael McCulloch and Adam Watson, who are on Diploma and HND courses, took part in the Institute of Agricultural Engineers, “Young Engineers' Competition 2010” at the Coventry Transport Museum.  They were the first Scottish team to enter the competition and collected two second places.

Think skateboarders, think skateboard park and that curved “pipe” they use. The brief for the budding engineers was to build a vehicle capable of getting as far as possible up a concave “quarter pipe”.  The machine was to be no wider that 200mm and no longer than 320mm.  Entrants were given a kit of wheels, a battery and a plan of the course.

Working against time (for various reasons) our ever-resourceful young farmers mounted the two electric drills on a board. They were powered by the battery and, after a bit of rewiring, drove the wheels in the right direction. With a high power-to-weight ratio, it proved a powerful beast so they called it Ram.

Arriving at the competition and seeing the quarter pipe the guys were extremely nervous, especially when they saw the sophistication of the machinery they were up against. However they soon realised that technically advanced machinery is not always the best, as the first robot's device failed, and the second only just managed past the 10 cm mark which was placed ¼ of the way up the quarter pipe.

The SAC group set the marker to 40cm which the ram shot past with ease. Their second attempt at 50cm, was also easily managed. On the third run, Ram made it past the 60cm mark before falling to the side. This was because their design gave it only two driven wheels.

The four have returned having learned some valuable lessons. Never underestimate your own ability and remember fancy designs and complicated construction can lead to failure. The SAC Engineering Club, mentored by lecturer Steve Brogan, will definitely enter the competition next year, hopefully with more than one robot.

Meanwhile the club has an ongoing project restoring an old John Deere tractor, as well as building a trailer, and a few other bits and bobs.

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