Engineering is primarily the process of creating new things to solve problems. This course, and contest, is one attempt to provide students with a real-world opportunity to learn about the design of new things, and the solution of open-ended, ill-defined problems. Each participant (working as part of a team of two) must design, prototype, fabricate, assemble, test, debug, and tune a device to compete against pairs of classmates' devices. At the beginning of the term the students are given a design task, a ``bag of junk'', and 10 weeks to design and fabricate a device. The task is a competitive one, and is different each year. Only the materials provided in the ``bag of junk'' are permitted. A typical year's ``junk'' includes: masonite, plexiglass, aluminum, a few ball bearings, a length of shafting, some brass bearings, a few pulleys and rollers, and other miscellaneous surplus ``junk'' that can be found in sufficient quantity. Before the annual Schlumberger contribution (beginning in 1987), the power source supplied to the students was rubber bands. Since that time we have been able to provide two (or more) electric motors each. Donations from our industrial sponsors have enabled us to provide each student with high quality ``junk''. The display case in the middle of the first floor of the Thomas building includes several of the students' devices from the previous contest, the trophy, and a display of the contents of the ``bag of junk''.

Previous contests:

• the students' devices collected golf-balls from a "wavy" trough (or stole them from their oppponents)
• the students' devices attempted to climb a string faster than their opponents
• the students designed and built electro-mechanical Sumo wrestlers
• the students designed and built devices to collect more small plastic pellets than their opponent`s device
• the student's devices moved hockey-pucks, golf-balls, and hose-washers out of their side of the table, across an 8-inch high ridge
• the students designed and built individual devices that competed together in a soccer-like game where the object was to shoot ping-pong balls into the opposing team's goal.

There is an attempt each year to provide a real-world engineering atmosphere. There is a limited amount of time. Team members must negotiate over size, weight, and task constraints. There are competing requirements and constraints, and overall strategy is a crucial initial decision. Every effort is made to make the contest scrupulously fair; all students have exactly the same raw materials and time, and access to tools and machine tools. The only variability is the student's learning, talent and expertise. Many lessons come out of the class, including:

• management and planning of time in the design cycle;
• decision-making in an uncertain environment;
• the benefits of prototyping and testing;
• the benefits of modular easy-to-repair designs;
• the interaction between design and manufacture;
• an experience with open-ended problem solving;
• and working in design teams.