2014-15
Contest Orientation
This Year’s Challenge
Transport an Object
 Carnegie Science Center
– Friday, December 12, 2014
 7:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Chain Reaction Contraption Contest
 Pre-contest day activities
 Register and set-up
 Preliminary Round
 Operations Judging
 Special Awards Judging
 Special Awards Winners & Finalists
 Final Round
 Operations Judging
 Final Awards Ceremony
(7:00 – 8:00)
(8:00 – 11:30)
(12:00-12:30)
(12:45-3:30)
(3:45-4:00)
Awards
Operations Judging
Special Awards Judging
 The top 3 teams will receive
 Best Use of Gravity
prizes
 For the School
 For the 4 Official Team
Members
 Rookie of the Year
 Longest Successfully
Executed Contraption
 Best Presentation
 Most Efficient Reset
 Best Execution of a Theme
Official Handbook
Check out the handbook for a complete
list of rules, score sheets, forms,
available points, potential deductions
and important dates!
www.chainreactioncontest.org
Photographic Progress Reports
 A picture or two of the
contraption's evolution
 Summary of what has
happened
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
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Issues/challenges
Innovative applications
The list of steps is no longer
required
 Due Oct 24th, Nov 14th
and Dec 5th
Contraption Materials
 Teams must provide an assessment of the total cost
of the contraption and the % of used materials

$100 max budget
 New materials
 Materials that are donated or purchased in new condition
 Use fair market value (e.g. Lowes) or actual cost
 Used materials
 Materials that are recycled or scavenged for use
 Use reasonable assessment (garage sale/Goodwill)
Team Participation
 Max of 4 students to represent the contraption on
contest day

More than 4 can participate in contraption design and build
 Each registered school may register one additional
team for the contest.
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An individual student may participate on one team
Additional schools that participate on contest day will be
determined based on available space
available spaces will be determined by random selection of
registered additional teams.
Only one team per school can compete in the final round of the
contest.
Several Key Questions
 How well does the contraption complete the
requirements of the task?
 How unique and creative is the approach to
achieving the task?
 How creative is the engineering design of the
contraption?
Tips for Success – Pre-contest
 Step 1 – Read the Handbook!
 Pay attention to the score sheets while planning your
contraption and contest day strategy.
 Come up with a design and construction plan
 Set a schedule
 Complete all activities on-time and in-full
 Dream, Build, Test and Revise – Think Repeatable
 Be patient, allow time to correct the flaws
 Be bold: change a step if it does not perform consistently
 Be creative and don’t get discouraged
 Practice
Tips for Success – Contest Day
 Anticipate what could happen
 Emergency supplies and consumables (your “triage kit”)
 Transportation issues
 Show your hard work
 A polished verbal presentation “sells” your contraption
 Highlight key, unique and creative approaches and steps
 Contraption Operation
 Have a checklist and use it to make sure everything is right
before starting each run.
 Check with the judges before touching the contraption.
 Relax and have Fun!
Contraption Jeopardy
 What is the maximum size limit for the contraption?
 What is the minimum amount of time the
contraption must operate in a single run?
 How many points are deducted for a human
intervention?
 What is the minimum expected number of steps?
 What is the first pre-contest deliverable?
Contraption Jeopardy
 How many students can represent the contraption
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for the judges on contest day?
What is the maximum budget allowed for the
contraption?
What is a “restart”?
How long do the students have to complete the
verbal presentation?
How many points are available for the pre-contest
submittals?
Contraption Demonstration
 2009-10 Contest – Construct a Building
Contraption Demonstration
 2012-13 Contest – Fill a Container and Close It
Contraption Demonstration
 2013-14 Contest – Communicate a Message
Questions?
Step Definition
A step is defined as an action that results in another
action working towards the final goal of the
contraption.
For example, the act of tipping over a block of wood
with a rolling ball is a step. The actual tipping
motion of the block is NOT a step, unless it causes
another action to occur.
A series of the same actions repeated (such as
dominoes knocking each other over or a ball hitting
another ball) is considered to be one step in the
spirit of the Chain Reaction Contraption Contest.
Conceptual Design
 An illustrative drawing or
drawings of your ideas for
your contraption
 Does not need to match
contest day contraption
 Detailed step information
is not required
 Due October 10th
Rules
 Dimensions

The finished contraption
must not exceed
5 ft x 3 ft x 2 ft. The
contraption, while
operating, must remain
inside the dimensions.
The platform is included
in the maximum
dimension measurement.
Rules
 Restarts & Human Interventions
 If your contraption should fail during its operation, you may
decide whether to:
continue the run by helping a step along (a human intervention)
 give up on the run and starting over (a restart)

 Time Limit
 Each contraption must take at least 30 seconds to run
completely through its steps and must not run longer than 2
minutes.
 Your reset must take less than 4 minutes.