Energy Breakthrough Overview

150 word summary of the Energy Breakthrough:

The energy breakthrough is a five day tournament held in Maryborough that is designed to provide opportunities for students to showcase their talents in Design and Technology.

The challenge is to design and construct a Human Powered Vehicle which represents an energy breakthrough. This experience allows parents, teachers and students to become work together and become involved in a collaborative and challenging environment. The goal of all teams is to race vehicles they have made from scratch in a 24 hour endurance race to display what they have achieved. Victory is not just awarded for being the fastest team on the track, but to the team that shows superior understanding and innovation in other areas such as their design and teamwork. Throughout the five days, many skills are assessed through scrutineering in the areas of safety, presentation, planning and testing, design and construction.

Summary of the different categories we are going to be marked in:

The three main categories that the team’s HPVs are assessed on are design and construction (25 marks), display and presentation (25 marks) and trial elements (50 marks). All of these areas are marked according to a preset criteria detailed in the information handbook. The focus of the design and construction tests are to assess team’s understanding of the vehicle and the concepts involved in its design and construction. As part of this process, the teams will discuss and explain the processes, show each team member’s license, show all riders’ safety equipment and show copies of design drawings. The purpose of the display and presentation area is for team members to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of their entry. Each team will be required to present a 20 minute presentation explaining all the features and processes involved in the construction of their HPV to a panel of three judges. Finally, the trail elements consist of endurance, time and obstacle tests, each of which are incorporated into the 24 hour street circuit in Maryborough.

50 word explanation of what our team has to do in order to get a good result:

To achieve the best possible outcome at the tournament, everyone must put in 100% effort.  This means building the bike completely from scratch and thinking carefully through all decisions to be made with the design of the bike. We also need to make sure that we have innovation in our design and have high quality results. Our design concepts must be affective and well thought out. The communication throughout our team must be done efficiently. We also must understand all parts of the vehicle and be able to explain them fully if asked. Also safety is crucial in the design and construction of our bike. We also need to work well together as a team.