Background

        Let's face it, opportunities to get your hands dirty, blow up capacitors, and get shocked by projects for many of us is low.  It won't be until senior projects that most of us (if any when talking about non-engineering majors) will really get the chance to tinker and build something that is interesting to us.  This competition is for you.  We want you to find something you like, something you're good at, or something you'd like to learn, and go with it!  Along the way, you'll have the help of your fellow students that have great insight on all parts of designing, planning, creating, programming, building, and testing electronics.


        You may have noticed that this competition is an "open competition".  This means that anyone, from any major, with any interest, can make a cool gadget.  We want students from mechanical engineers to computer science majors to philosophy majors to get together over wires, blinking lights, motors, and more, and we just couldn't do that with a closed ended prompt.  Don't get me wrong, a "build the best yarn weaving robot" competition might be cool, but we'd rather have kids making what they want.

We have this competition broken up into two parts:

The Workshops:  Many people, whether they are just starting their college career, from a non-EE major, or something else, need to learn the basics of electronics.  Things that will be covered, among other topics, are how electricity flows, resistors, communications, and programming of the microcontroller.

The Judged Event: Near the end of the spring semester,  we will have the final, judged event where prizes are awarded and much fun is to be had.