It is the year 1499 AD. Venice is being seiged by the Ottoman Turks. The army must simultaneously defend its own borders and prevent the annexure of Lombardy. Despair and pessimism run high among the troops. The last ray of hope comes from a young Italian, a man claiming to be a military engineer. A man claiming to know a revolutionary weapon that can fight back armies on its own.

His name is Leonardo da Vinci.

As da Vinci, you must prepare a weapon to accurately shoot missiles at enemies. It must be fast, reliable, strong, yet economical to construct. Can you wisely combine material choice with design skills to design such a device?

• Contestants will have to register online.

• All relevant data and figures must be shown in the report.

• Machine will be subjected to a variety of physical tests and demonstrations.

• The students must carry valid student ID cards of their college which they will be required to produce at the time of registration.

• A team may comprise a maximum of FOUR participants.

• Readymade kits are NOT allowed.

• The team is not permitted to compete with more than one bot.

• Teams will not be allowed to modify their bots during their trial.

• Judges’ decision in this regard will be final and binding.

In this event, contesting teams must build a Scorpion- a missile throwing machine. In keeping with the storyline, the machine must be entirely mechanical, i.e. use of electricity is not permitted. The main idea of the event is to unite mechanical design aspects and optimise material selection for an efficient device.

Participants are expected to carefully analyse factors like weight distribution, wear and durability, strength and efficiency-to-economy ratio. Theoritcal considerations behind final design and choice of structural materials should be explained in the report. The final demonstration of the machine will include tests on range, accuracy, reloading etc.

The report should include design considerations, including but not limited to launching mechanism, stability considerations, materials optimization etc. Designs different from those shown as examples will be appreciated.

• Maximum size of the machine will be 0.5mx0.5x0.5m.
• The Scorpion must be mounted on the ground.
• Use of electricity, pneumatics and flame-based mechanisms are not allowed. The machine should be entirely mechanical.
• The machine should be adjustable to shoot missiles to a horizontal distance of 2-6m.
• The projectile to be thrown will be a hollow plastic pipe of 5cm length with an outer dia of 2.54cm and a thickness of 2mm..
• Mechanisations in the form of inclination adjustments, launching are to be controlled by means of crankshafts/levers/rollers etc are to be used.
• Manual reloading is permitted. Manual reloading refers to the process of placing the launch mechanism to the lowest level of shooting. The range adjustment must be mechanised.

• Reports should deal with design criteria related to the machine.
• The criteria are to be divided into two heads: a) Materials selection, and b)Mechanism design.
• Materials selection should include the reasons for selection of materials used, including but not limited to strength, flexibility, toughness and wear resistance.
• Bonus marks will be awarded for analysis and optimization. (Example: Material A has sufficient strength and moderate cost but low flexibility, material B has low strength, low cost but high flexibility. Which would you choose for a various parts of the machine and why?)
• If any candidate materials were unavailable to the participating team; and availability of the same would have had a significant improvement on the machine, these should be mentioned and justified in the report.
• Mechanism design should contain basic sketching demonstrating the working of the various mechanisms.
• Bonus marks will be awarded for analysis of the machine in terms of mechanical efficiency, weight etc.
• The report has to be printed and submitted to the organisers on the day of the event. Any team that does NOT submit a report will NOT be allowed to take part in the testing round.

• Analysis of problem.
• Presentation of solution or ideas.
• Horizontal range, accuracy and flexibility.
• Stability, strength and weight considerations.
• Innovative design, including best use of materials.
• Efficiency and cost analysis.

Below are sample pictures of Scorpions that have been made so far. The aim of this gallery is to give participants a fair idea of what a scorpion is.

Materials Events

Suhas Karanth - (+91) 9740726389

Mechanical Events

Shashank Kidiyur - (+91) 9945196976

Mail your queries/submissions to metaevents@engineer.org.in or mechevents@engineer.org.in