Beyond the Competition

Challenge Overview

A great team needs more than a great competition robot or drone. Teams also need ways to organize equipment, store parts, transport tools, manage batteries, improve their workspace, prepare for events, and represent their team. In this challenge, your team will use the engineering design process, computer-aided design (CAD), and 3D printing to design and create a unique ancillary product that improves your team’s experience.

An ancillary product supports, improves, organizes, transports, presents, or enhances your team’s experience but is not a functional component of your competition robot or drone. Your product should support your team in ways outside the robot or drone itself, like organization, storage, transportation, team identity, or another aspect of your team’s  experience.

These examples are intended to help you explore possibilities, not limit your ideas. The only restriction is that your product may not fit on, attach to, or function as part of your competition robot or drone. The goal is to look beyond the robot or drone and identify something that could improve your team’s  experience. This challenge is intentionally open-ended. No single product is correct to design. Your team should identify a real need or opportunity and use the engineering design process to develop a solution that fits your team’s needs.

Your goal is to answer one central question: How can you use the engineering design process, CAD, and 3D printing to create a product that improves your team’s experience?

Project Requirements & Components

To complete this challenge and be eligible for the prizes and awards you need to successfully  submit both parts to the challenge.  Your submission must include:

Engineering Design Portfolio

Your portfolio should document the engineering design process your team used to develop your product.

The portfolio must include:

• Title Page: Required and must include:
  • Challenge name and season year
  • Your program (e.g., RECF Achieve)
  • Your team number (e.g., Team 111B)
• Documentation
  • Engineering problem statement
  • Research and design exploration
  • Brainstorming and initial design concepts
    • At least 3 different initial design sketches
  • Documentation of the process used to select the final design
  • Documentation of final design
    • Technical drawing of final design
    • Documentation of testing and improvement 
    • Photographic evidence of the manufactured prototype (Please note – creating an actual prototype is not a requirement for elementary school teams)
  • Final design analysis and explanation of why this award design best represents the spirit of the award category. 

Final Design Files

Submit the following files with your portfolio submission:

• CAD files for the final design (downloaded as .stl)
• A technical drawing of the final design with appropriate dimensions and annotations

Your technical drawing should communicate the information needed to understand and reproduce the design.

Final Prototype

Submit the following within your portfolio: 

• Your team must create a 3D printed prototype of your final design. Include photos or video of the completed prototype and testing in your portfolio so judges can see the physical result. You will not submit the physical prototype.  
• The prototype should demonstrate the design your team developed and provide evidence that your team moved from an idea to a physical product. A fully manufactured or production-ready product is not required.

Step 1: Define the Problem — Identify the Need

Every strong design begins with a problem, need, or opportunity. Identify something you could improve about your team’s  experience. Think about the ways your team works, travels, competes, stores equipment, prepares for events, or presents itself. Your idea should address a real need or opportunity, not just something interesting to print.

Develop an Engineering Problem Statement

Your problem statement should clearly explain:

• What problem or need did your team identify?
• Who experiences the problem and when or where does it occur?
• Why is the problem worth solving and what would be a successful solution?

Be specific. Instead of saying, “Our team needs better organization,” explain what is difficult to organize, what problems this creates, and what improvement your team would like to achieve.

Step 2: Research & Explore — Understand the Problem

Research the problem and explore possible solutions before beginning your final design.

Your research may include:

• Existing products or solutions
• Similar designs
• Materials
• 3D printing techniques and manufacturing methods
• Size or space requirements
• Strength or durability considerations
• Portability
• Cost
• Safety
• Other factors that could influence your design

Use your research to help your team understand the problem and identify opportunities for improvement.

The goal is not to copy an existing product. Use research to understand what already exists, identify limitations or opportunities, and develop your own solution.

Step 3: Brainstorm & Design — Explore Possibilities

Before selecting a final design, explore multiple possible solutions. Your team must explore at least three different initial design concepts. You may represent these through sketches or other appropriate design-development methods. The concepts should show meaningful differences in how the problem could be solved. 

For each design, consider factors such as: how well it addresses the problem, function, size, materials, ease of manufacturing, 3D printing considerations, durability, cost, appearance, ease of use, or other factors.

Evaluate Your Ideas

Develop criteria your team will use to compare the designs. Document how your team evaluated the different concepts and explain why you selected the design you will develop further.Your choice should be from a thoughtful design decision, not simply the first idea your team created.

Step 4: CAD Design — Develop the Solution

Use computer-aided design (CAD) software to develop your selected concept into a detailed final design.

Your CAD design should:

• Represent the final product accurately
• Include appropriate dimensions and features
• Consider how the product will be manufactured
• Reflect improvements made during the design process

Your team should document important design decisions made while developing the CAD model.

Create a Technical Drawing

Create a technical drawing of your final design using CAD software. The technical drawing should be a 3-view orthographic drawing using 3rd angle projection and should include a title block with the drawing name, date, team number, and scale. The technical drawing should include the information needed to communicate the design clearly, including appropriate:

• Dimensions
• Annotations
• Views
• Labels or other technical information

The goal is to create a drawing that communicates the design clearly to someone who was not part of your team.

Step 5: Prototype, Test & Improve — Build the Solution

Create a 3D printed prototype of your final design. Test the prototype to determine whether it addresses the problem your team identified. Your testing may examine function, fit, strength, durability, ease of use, portability, organization, appearance or other criteria important to your design. Document what happened during testing.

Improve Your Design

Engineering designs rarely work the first time perfectly. Identify what worked, what did not work, and what your team changed as a result. Your documentation should show how testing influenced your final design.

Strong projects will demonstrate that testing led to meaningful improvements.

Step 6: Final Design — Show the Impact

Analyze your final design and explain how it addresses the original problem.

Your final analysis should explain:

• What your team created and what problem it solves
• How the final design improve the team’s robotics experience
• What design decisions were most important and why
• How you used the engineering design process to make changes after testing
• What you would improve or change if you continued to develop the product

The final design does not have to be perfect. The goal is to demonstrate how your team used engineering to move from a problem to a tested solution.

Final Submission Checklist

Before submitting, make sure your team has:

• Identified a real problem or opportunity related to the team experience and created a complete engineering problem statement
• Researched existing solutions, materials, manufacturing methods, or other relevant information and documented the research 
• Documented at least three different initial design concepts or sketches
• Documented how the design concepts were evaluated and explained why the final design was selected
• Created a 3D printed prototype then tested and documented testing results and design improvements
• Explained how the final design addresses the original problem
• Documented the engineering design process throughout the project
• Included the required CAD files and technical drawing
• Created the final design using CAD software
• Created a technical drawing with appropriate dimensions and annotations of the final design
• Documented the final prototype with photos or video
• Ensured the final product is an ancillary product and not a functional component of the competition robot

Challenge Success

Your team will be successful if you can demonstrate, not just describe, how the engineering design process helped you turn a need into a designed, prototyped, and improved solution. Strong projects will identify a meaningful problem or opportunity, use testing to  make meaningful improvements then clearly explain how the final product improves the team experience. Remember, the goal is not simply to create something that can be 3D printed. The goal is to use engineering to solve a real problem.

Identify the need. Design the solution. Print it. Test it. Improve it.