Herff College of Engineering
Kicker Grades 9-12
Contact Info: jjnnings@memphis.eduThe competition is designed to test the ingenuity of the team to design an ‘artificial leg’ to kick a standard ping-pong ball into a target.
Rules:
- The artificial leg must be mechanical in nature and must not receive any propulsive power from any non-mechanical source.
- The artificial leg must contain the following:
- a thigh (femur)
- a shin (tibia)
- a foot
- and all three components must be able to rotate or be adjusted to simulate motion from the hip, knee, and ankle joints.
- The musculoskeletal equivalents (major bones, major muscles, major ligaments/tendons) for the artificial leg must be indicated.
- The artificial leg must be able to kick the ping-pong ball towards a target.
- The artificial leg must fit within a box that is 2.0 feet in each dimension. It may be smaller than the box but it may not be larger.
- The artificial leg must fit into the box when it is at its fullest extension in all dimensions.
- The ping-pong balls may not be altered in any way.
- The artificial leg will be placed on a level surface. The operator of the leg may hold the device on the surface during operation.
- The artificial leg will be used to kick ping-pong balls from a distance of 4, 6 and 8 feet to a target that is 3 feet above the level surface. The target will be 2 feet in diameter. The target will be divided into three concentric zones, with the ‘bulls-eye’ being 0.5 ft diameter, middle zone 0.5-1.0 ft and the outer zone, 1.0-2.0 ft.
- Each artificial leg design will be allowed three attempts from each distance to hit the target.
- No modification of the device may be made (other than re- setting components) once the first kick has been made.
Scoring:
- Each successful kick into the target from a distance of 4 feet will be awarded 6 points, with 2 additional points for hitting the middle zone and 4 additional points for hitting the bulls-eye.
- Each successful kick into the target from a distance of 6 feet will be awarded 4 points, with 2 additional points for hitting the middle zone and 4 additional points for hitting the bulls-eye.
- Each successful kick into the target from a distance of 8 feet will be awarded 3 points with 2 additional points for hitting the middle zone and 4 additional points for hitting the bulls-eye.
Points also will be awarded for creativity of design concept and demonstrated knowledge of components and musculoskeletal equivalents.