Contest's Design Challenge: A Robot That Does Windows

Students at more than 100 colleges and universities are designing prototypes of a window-washing robot that will compete in a dozen ASME Student Design Competition regional tournaments, which are scheduled in North America in March and April, and in Chile and Ecuador in May.

The Boeing Co. and door and window manufacturer Pella Corp. are providing funding for the competition, in which the student engineering teams will be judged on the functionality and speed of their automated window-cleaning systems.

A sketch from the construction guide for 2008 Student Design Competition contestants.

Winners of the 12 regional contests will compete in the 2008 ASME Student Design Competition finals to be held this November in Boston. The competition will run in conjunction with the 2008 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition.

During the competition, the battery-powered robots will be required to remove ink from a residential double-paned window autonomously. The robots must be designed to travel over the glass surface and remove ink debris. Once placed on the glass, the robots, dubbed Winrobo, must move back and forth between the two window panes without assistance.

Winrobo must move across the window while carrying 50 millimeters of water, which cannot spill or leak from the machine's containment system. In addition, each prototype must include a safety cord that will secure the device to the window in the event of a malfunction.

The 12 regional competitions are scheduled to take place on the following dates:

• March 14–15 at California State University, Fresno, Calif.;

• March 28–29 at Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, Wash.;

• March 28–30 at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, N.Y.;

• March 28–30 at University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.;

• March 28–30 at Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Va.;

• April 3–5 at Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colo.;

• April 4–6 at Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Fla.;

• April 4–6 at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.;

• April 5 at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Conn.;

• April 17–19 at Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La.;

• May 29–31 at Universidad Tecnologica Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile, and

• May 29–31 at the Escuela Politectina del Ejercito, Quito, Ecuador.

To find out more about the 2008 ASME Student Design Competition, visit the event's Web page, www.asme.org/Events/Contests/DesignContest/
2008_Student_Design.cfm.

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