The Elsa High School Design Challenge began on Thursday 15 December. Students in the MYP were joined by our Grade 11s - forming 21 design teams in total - to complete this year’s challenge. Teams are organised by School Houses to heighten the stakes!
The Situation: In the near future, we will be combining the technology of old and new to develop efficient and autonomous goods transport systems. Healthcare and medical emergencies are prioritised when it comes to rapid response in urban areas, which is why we are calling on you for submissions of drone pod designs that can be used on a zipline network throughout Hong Kong. It is critical that pharmaceutical products and medical devices are moved safely and rapidly to the places and people that need them most. Help us create the future.
The Goal: Create a high-speed propeller propulsion transport pod that can rapidly move along a zipline and deliver a payload.
Peter, Grade 8: This was my first time ever doing the Design Challenge, I didn't know what to expect other than the fact that it was a challenge. We were tasked with creating a "Zipline Pod" capable of transporting medical supplies quickly and efficiently.
The highlight on Day 1 for me was collecting the materials and starting to build the "Zipline Pod"; my team and I put our plans into action and it was fun to see how everything fitted together. During the build process there were multiple hurdles we had to overcome, sometimes we did not have enough of one material or we could not decide on what would work best for our Zipline Pod, however after certain deliberation and working together to find a new comprisable solution we were able to work around our struggles.
Now after the Design Challenge is over, it was an enjoyable experience and it was great to plan, build and put our creation into action. Thank you to Mr. Donnoli and supervising staff for making it happen!
Lev, Grade 8: This was my first year of the design challenge, so I did not know what to expect. This year's challenge was to create a motor-driven zipline carrier, capable of carrying 50g. It is supposed to be built to transport the payload efficiently both up and downhill along a zipline.
My highlight on the first day was making the model. We made drawings and designs, and then we made them come to life, and for me, this was quite fun. The biggest challenge for our team to overcome was the weight of our pod. Testing our model was really exciting, but sadly I won’t be here for the races.
Talia, Grade 8: The Design Challenge this year was really fun and challenging. I really enjoyed working with my team! I think it was very interesting to make technology that could carry important and potentially life saving equipment and medicines around the city. We definitely achieved our goal which was to make a perfectly balanced zipline carrier that could go fast with a valuable load inside.
Some highlights were doing the presentation, finishing the actual product and doing the race against other teams. At one point our motor had broken and we lost our mini challenge cards; we had lost any hope we might win. Then we decided it wouldn’t help just sitting around so we got up and worked hard and fixed our product and we did well in the races. I thought it was a great opportunity for our whole class and I really enjoyed working with my team and I learnt a lot of things along the way!
