On June 17, 2015 TU Delft saw a design competition held with a more left-field focus. Rather than building the usual bridge or rocket, students at 3mE were challenged to build an automated baseball pitcher.
Whether you are a hard-core baseball fan, or are more familiar with the Wii Sports version you are likely familiar with terms like fastball, the change up and slider. Although these are all important parts of a pitchers repertoire according to the department, they can often cause elbow and shoulder injuries serving as the inspiration behind this design challenge. The students’ creations however were not expected to execute a perfect curve-ball, just to throw as accurately as possible.
There were 65 teams participating in the competition, each was team made up of six to eight students in their first year of an engineering degree. As well as being accurate, these pitchers all had to fit certain criteria. The teams had to be able to assemble them within 10 minutes, fix them onto a loose tile and when disassembled the equipment had to fit in a box 78x38x30 centimetres. It also had to be able to propel the ball a minimum of 18.44 metres, without falling over. Many teams were successful, with some balls reaching speeds of up to 188 kilometres per hour.
Blue Birds
Organised by 3mE, the Mechanical, Maritime and Material engineering department in coordination with Leeghwater fraternity, the competition was sponsored by a number of groups, including TU Delft, Science Centre Delft and even Blue Birds, Delft’s very own baseball and softball club. The sponsors provided material necessary for the construction and testing of these pitchers, as well as some of the prizes available for the winning students. Prizes were awarded not only for precision and accuracy, but also for technical performance, innovation and light-weight mobility. First main prize went to team ten for their air-driven pitcher, and team twenty five for their motor-driven machine. Teams one and forty took second prize, while third went to teams fifteen and four. Additional awards were also given to teams six, ten and fifty-nine.
3me always produces interesting competitions for students, which require a number of different engineering skills as well a great deal of teamwork, and this competition was no exception. Past challenges have included designing a vertical bike, and a walking beer crate.
More info (in Dutch)? project.3me.tudelft.nl/pitcher
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