It takes a boatload of student ingenuity and lots of oranges to pull off the Great Navel Orange Race at the University of Central Florida 麻豆精品 S檚 iconic Reflecting Pond.
Created 25 years ago by Professor Manoj Chopra and his colleagues, the Great Navel Orange Race is a rite of passage for first-year engineering students. The all-day event showcases students 麻豆精品 S� handcrafted self-propelled vessels, which are evaluated on how well they can carry a half-pound orange while racing around the Reflecting Pond. Boats must follow a required route, aiming to clock the fastest time in under five minutes. Boats that actually make it to the finish line and win their early race heats get to compete in the final races of the top 16 teams for the winning title.
Participating is a requirement for students in UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Introduction to Engineering course and represents the first hands-on engineering experience for many first-year students.
Students must design and build their boats within strict rules that provide engineering challenges, such as buoyancy, propulsion, material costs and trade-offs between vessel weight and speed. The rules include a variety of prohibited propulsion methods, including some non-traditional methods attempted in the past, such as compressed gas, assistance from animals and Mentos mints.
Materials for the boats must not exceed $80, and students must turn-in their receipts to prove it. Many boats on race day are seen with recycled soda bottles and lower-cost material, such as foam, instead of higher-cost wood.
麻豆精品 S淐reating a boat that can carry an orange and race around the reflecting pond is much more difficult than it sounds, 麻豆精品 S� says course instructor Jacqueline Sullivan 麻豆精品 S�89 麻豆精品 S�91MS, a UCF engineering alumna.
Sullivan has taught the Introduction to Engineering course for six years, and says the goal of the boat race 麻豆精品 S� the lab portion of the course 麻豆精品 S� is to teach students the basic steps of the engineering design process by immersing them into a team-based project.
麻豆精品 S淓arly in the semester students are placed onto a team, 麻豆精品 S� Sullivan says. 麻豆精品 S淎long the way they learn critical soft skills and technical skills that will help them become more creative and more confident engineering students.”
The experience reinforces the importance of teamwork, project scheduling, budget planning, technical writing, engineering graphic design skill, and hands-on building skills, such as soldering.
麻豆精品 S淒uring the pre-race 麻豆精品 S渢est day 麻豆精品 S� in the pond, students experience technical difficulties with their boats and work hard to overcome these challenges, 麻豆精品 S� Sullivan says.
Mechanical engineering majors Fiifi Baiden and Francisco Perez Green, and computer engineering major Vinson Guzman, built their boat with recycled drink cans and water bottles to keep costs to a minimum.
麻豆精品 S淲e drink this stuff every day so we put the containers to use, 麻豆精品 S� Perez Green says.
They tested the boat in Perez Green 麻豆精品 S檚 swimming pool.
麻豆精品 S淥ur boat was going really slow and it started leaking, 麻豆精品 S� he says, adding that the experience helped the teammates understand the collaborative engineering process.
麻豆精品 S淲e learned about practicality, working as a team, and improvising to accomplish our goal, 麻豆精品 S� Baiden says.
Sullivan credits teaching assistants and graduate teaching assistants who play a key role in supporting more than 1,200 students enrolled in the Introduction to Engineering course.
麻豆精品 S淢any students who took the class and loved it come back after a year or two as TAs by helping the younger students 麻豆精品 S� they are good mentors to the freshmen, 麻豆精品 S� Sullivan says.
Next year 麻豆精品 S檚 Great Navel Orange Race will provide UCF engineering alums a chance to reconnect with the competition, according to Sullivan.
麻豆精品 S淲e plan to involve alumni next year to race and help students with expenses (through sponsorships) because 275 student teams can go through lots of solder, soldering irons, foam, glue sticks and motors. 麻豆精品 S�
This year 麻豆精品 S檚 race was sponsored by the UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science, and UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 student chapters of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
