3 College Teams Win 3D Printing Competition
Six student teams from high schools and colleges around the United
States won medals and other prizes in the second annual SkillsUSA
Additive Manufacturing Competition at the 52nd annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, which was held in Louisville, KY June 21-23.
Twenty-two teams competed in this year's competition, which was sponsored by SME and Stratasys.
The competition was intended to help participants "better understand
additive manufacturing applications" and "get hands-on experience using
the latest 3D printing technology and software," according to a news
release.
Students completed two design challenges and a written
exam to evaluate their understanding of additive manufacturing
technology. The design challenges involved designing and printing a
trading pin and catapult according to contest specifications, which
included 3D printing time, size and materials usage. Participants then
tested their catapult designs for distance and accuracy and presented
their findings and engineering notebooks to a panel of judges, which
was made up of professionals in the additive manufacturing field. The
judges selected three high school teams and three college teams to win
gold, silver and bronze medals.
Winners of the SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing competition include:
Prizes
for the winning teams included scholarships from the SME Education
Foundation, a MakerBot Mini printer, 3D mouse and SolidWorks 3D CAD
design software.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].