Monday, December 2, 2013

2014, International letter-writing competition for young people

Deadline: 30 April 2014.

The theme selected for the 2014 competition is: "Write a letter describing how music can touch lives."
The promotional poster reflects the 2014theme.
The best letter from each country must be submitted to the International Bureau no later than 30 April 2014.

Rules

Participation

  • Young people up to the age of 15 years may take part in the competition.

United Nations Academic Impact Student Essay Contest



June 25-29, 2014
Winners participate in a 5 day International Youth Forum in New York and present at United Nations Headquarters on June 27th Submit an essay (2000 words or less) exploring how multilingual ability advances global citizenship and understanding. Your essay should reflect your academic, cultural, and national context.
Entries must be in one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations that is not the entrant’s mother tongue or language of instruction. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older.
Essay Submission Deadline: February 21, 2014
Winners will be invited to New York for an International Academic Impact Youth Forum, June 25-29, 2014. They will present their work in a Conference at the United Nations Headquarters on June 27, 2014. Airfare, room and board provided.




source: http://www.els.edu/en/ManyLanguagesOneWorld

The inaugural ASME Innovative Additive Manufacturing


 
3D (IAM3D) Challenge is designed to give mechanical and multi-disciplinary undergraduate students around the world an opportunity to re-engineer existing products or create new designs that minimize energy consumption and/or improve energy efficiency. Students will showcase their creativity by demonstrating the value added through their ingenuity, application of sound engineering design principles,
and leveraging Additive Manufacturing technology to address a broad spectrum of industrial, manufacturing, and humanitarian challenges.
A functional prototype of the top 30 designs (as chosen by a panel of judges) will be printed to the submitted design specifications and those students will be invited to present their designs and business case to panel of judges at the ASME 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) in Montreal, Canada.
 
Who Can Enter?
Mechanical Engineering/ME and Multidisciplinary/EngineeringTechnology undergraduate students worldwide. Enter as an individual or as part of a team (no more than 3 student team members allowed).Each individual or team is required to have a faculty advisor sign off on their project.
Design Entry Process
  • Register at: ASME Submitables
  • Student/Team (no more than 3 students per team) will submit the following:
    • Cover sheet
    • STL files and source files from any CAD program
    • An image of the current product design and a detailed description of the changes
    • Business case (5 pages or less): justification of the product redesign, value added as measured by reduced (i) time to produce, (ii) cost impact, (iii) sustainability, (iv) energy consumption or renewable energy generation, (v) reduced materials and (vi) promoting green design
  • Judges will choose the top 30 semi-finalists to assemble their design, showcase their functional prototype, and compete in a 10 minute verbal presentation with additional 5 minutes reserved for Q & A at the 2014 IMECE Conference in Montreal. The semi-finalists team will receive $1500 for travel expenses, and a per diem allowance for food and hotel.










source: https://www.asme.org/events/competitions/iam3d-challenge

2014 Student Design Competition: Lighter than Air UAV


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The use of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) has proved to be very efficient. They not only save the pilot from being placed in harm's way but the expense is much lower. There are uses of UAV's that have been identified. An example of one of those uses would be to observe a forest fire to provide information so the Forrest Service can determine the best way to fight the fire.
Design a small UAV to carry a cargo through two gates, see below, drop a payload and return to the starting point. This is an initial proof of concept prototype. You must design and build, at a minimum, the propulsion and control system for the UAV yourself. You cannot purchase and modify an existing commercially available vehicle. The device must be able to maneuver around and through obstacles, change height, and pass through a hoop for sizing.
A hoop approximately 0.71-m (28-in) in diameter will be used by the judges to limit the size of the vehicle. It is radio controlled.
2014 Problem Statement
To post 2014 SDC related questions, please register on http://community.asme.org, create your profile, and then use the link below to post your question. If you have already registered, proceed directly to the following link to post your question.
https://community.asme.org/student_design_
competition_teams/f/6255/t/708.aspx

National SeaPerch Challenge, Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC),Student Unmanned Air Systems (SUAS) Competition,International RoboBoat Competition

Competitions

Established by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International, the AUVSI Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides students with hands-on robotics activities designed to fuel and sustain their interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

Each year the AUVSI Foundation offers a series of educational programs as well as robotics competitions that allow students to apply their STEM education outside the classroom. The experience is ideal preparation for entering the workforce, which is why participating students are frequently offered coveted internship and employment opportunities while still in school. Since the competitions began in 1991, more than $1.3 million has been awarded in prize money. 

National SeaPerch Challenge
May 16-18, 2014
University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
Each year, middle and high school students from across the country gather to compete in the National SeaPerch Challenge. During the National SeaPerch Challenge, student teams must demonstrate the capabilities of the SeaPerches they have built as they navigate through an underwater obstacle course. Teams also display posters and deliver oral presentations about their design philosophy and construction challenges before a panel of judges. SeaPerch is an easy to assemble, underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) which is built from a kit, making it a great entry point for students interested in robotics. 


Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC)
June 6-9, 2014
Oakland University
Rochester, MI
Created in 1993, the IGVC challenges student teams to develop an autonomous ground vehicle that can navigate a complex list of mobility, design, and interoperable architecture requirements. Based on product realization, it is multi-disciplinary, theory-based, hands-on, team implemented, and outcome assessed. It encompasses the very latest technologies impacting industrial development and taps subjects of high interest to students. Design and construction of an Intelligent Vehicle fits well in a two-semester senior year capstone course or an extra curricular activity earning a design credit.



Student Unmanned Air Systems (SUAS) Competition
June 18-22, 2014
Webster Field
Patuxent River, MD
The SUAS Competition, aimed at stimulating and fostering interest in unmanned air systems, technologies and careers, focuses on engaging students in a challenging mission. It requires the design, integration, and demonstration of a system capable of conducting air operations which includes autonomous flight, navigation of a specified course, and use of onboard payload sensors. The event has been held annually since 2002.



International RoboBoat Competition
July 8-13, 2014
Founders Inn and Spa
Virginia Beach, VA
The International RoboBoat Competition was first held in 2008. In it, student teams race autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) of their own design through an aquatic obstacle course. This includes littoral area navigation, channel following, and autonomous docking. It is typically accomplished with computer vision, multi-sensor fusion techniques, proactive and reactive path planning, and machine learning approaches using embedded systems within the vehicle. The competition provides an opportunity for students to develop skills in system engineering by accomplishing realistic missions with autonomous vehicles in the maritime environment. 


International RoboSub Competition
July 28- August 3, 2014
SSC Pacific TRANSDEC
San Diego, CA
Since 1998, the RoboSub competition has advanced the development of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) by challenging a new generation of engineers to perform realistic missions in a demanding underwater environment. The primary emphases of the competition are education and career preparation. Students gain an appreciation for the trade-offs inherent in any system design as well as lessons learned in transitioning from working bench prototype to operating reliably in the real world.


International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC)
Early August, 2014
Beijing, China
and
Early August, 2014
Grand Forks, ND
www.foundation.org/iarc
The AUVSI International Aerial Robotics Competition, now in its 22nd year, involves the development of sophisticated aerial robots attempting a never-before-achieved mission to fly indoors to covertly search for and retrieve a specific target.  Key to the Competition mission is that these flying robots are fully autonomous "thinking" machines.  There will be no humans controlling the robots.  They must avoid obstacles, navigate, and search for the target item without any human intervention or use of GPS navigation aides.  Currently there is no aerial robot in existence that can perform the mission goals as stated in the Official Rules.  The first team to achieve these behaviors will be moving the state of the art in aerial robotic behavior forward while providing validation of a militarily-significant mission.


Maritime RobotX Challenge
October 20-26, 2014
Marina Bay, Singapore
www.RobotX.org
Maritime RobotX Challenge (RobotX), sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and run by the AUVSI Foundation, has two primary objectives:  to create a pinnacle STEM student outreach event and promotion of interest among Pacific national partners in the science and technology of autonomous systems. 
Approximately 15 teams of students from five Pacific Rim countries – U.S., Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan – will use a standardized boat that will be provided by the competition organizers and compete October 20-24, 2014 in Singapore in the first-ever Maritime RobotX Challenge.  By providing the teams with a standard platform (boat), the Competition will focus on sensors, software and propulsion.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Welcome to the World of 7 Billion video contest!

There are over 7 billion people sharing the planet and we live in an increasingly connected world. In our global society, population pressures can affect our ability to sustainably use the earth’s resources and improve living conditions for all of the world’s people. Considering the interdependence of people and the planet, create a short (60 seconds or less) video that illustrates the connection between population growth and one of the following global challenges: climate change, global poverty, or water sustainability.

All high school students are eligible to enter. Cash prizes will be awarded to videos in each of the three topic areas.

The deadline for submitting videos is Friday, February 21, 2014.

Here's how...

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Choose Issue
Make the connection between world population growth and ONE of the following: Climate Change, Global Poverty, or Water Sustainability.
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Research the Issue
To start your research, check out the Background Reading associated with the topic you’ve chosen. Conduct additional resource as well – here are some Research Resources to get you started.