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 THE 2011 CANADIAN
FLUID POWER CHALLENGE
Thursday, May 12, 2011
“No problem” say students to new task at 2011
Canadian Fluid Power Challenge
Challenge organizers were a little concerned that the new problem scenario they devised for this year’s competition, held on Thursday, May 12th in Etobicoke, might be too difficult for the students. It turns out they needn’t have worried as more teams succeeded in completing at least one cycle than in any of the previous ten challenges. Leading the parade of successful schools was first place winner, Islington Junior Middle School.
Students from 18 west Toronto middle schools were asked to design and build fluid power devices to pick up a wooden block and place it on one of two shelves – in effect, a simulation of a warehouse material handling problem. They were evaluated on a set of criteria including the number of cycles completed and the quality of their design portfolios.
This year’s teacher tour, which took place while the students were building their machines, visited the Bombardier Aerospace plant in Downsview. There the teachers saw the final assembly lines for the Q400 regional airliners and the Global Express corporate jets. They also saw fluid power in action in the testing and R & D Centre.
The Challenge, which is a partnership of the Canadian Fluid Power Association and the Toronto District School Board, is intended to provide Grade 8 students with hands-on experience building a mechanism with real world applicability and to open their eyes and those of their teachers to the world of technology careers. At a minimum, the organizers hope that the Challenge will encourage students to select more mathematics and science courses in their high school curricula to keep their options open for technology-based post-secondary studies.
Special thanks go to this year’s sponsors (one team per sponsor unless otherwise noted):
- Bosch Rexroth (3 teams)
- Flo Draulic
- Kinecor
- National Fluid Power Association
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- Parker Hannifin
- Sauer-Danfoss
- SMC Pneumatics
- Wainbee
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A complete photo gallery of the 2011 Challenge competition can be found at the following link |
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Sample Fluid Power Challenge Kit
Click here to view sample Fluid Power Challenge Materials
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