The preliminary JPL competition was a very riveting day. We prepared our machines in a corner while we witnessed dozens of other competitors practicing with their exquisite contraptions. Waiting to be called up and witnessing the other teams displaying their attempts was incredibly nerve-racking. Oddly enough, a large majority of the groups that competed failed at raising the pipe. When it came to our turn, I went down and set everything up correctly and carefully, then removed the pencil - our attempt was successful and we won 7th place in timed trials overall!
My group did quite well in constructing an invention with a high success rate. When it's tested, you can expect it to consistently perform great results almost every time. However, behind that were several issues. Firstly, our team did not test the machine enough at each specific starting notch of the platform in order to assure the repeatability of each successful run. Secondly, our invention is not optimally fitted to perform the lift maneuver very fast. This is a key flaw in our design which caused us to be in 7th place rather than 1st place like the other PLTW team. Potentially adding sponges for cushioning or a powerful spring and pulley system instead of weights will solve this issue. This is what we aim to fix before next month's upcoming competition in the halls of JPL
