Engineering Explorer Post 76, sponsored by Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego, has been meeting since March 1998. Our meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month during the school year (October through May). "Exploring" is a coed program developed by the Boy Scouts of America, and is open to all high school age students. This program stresses career, leadership, service, fitness and social development skills. The Owego Engineering Explorer Post 76 fulfills these requirements by providing a program where the members obtain a basic understanding of career opportunities in engineering, science and business through a program of hands-on projects, facility tours, guest speakers and discussions. 2008/2009 Project This year’s project was to design, prototype and build Rube Goldberg devices. Over forty students from nearly a dozen local school districts across the Twin Tiers participated in this year’s program. The design process began with students working in small teams to establish a schedule, define program milestones and research ideas for mechanical, electrical and other types of reactions. While prototyping a number of reactions, the teams also worked together to define the interactions between each team’s device. Once given a pre-defined budget and specific requirements, the teams began designing their Rube Goldbergs using a list of available materials and the knowledge gained from their prototype testing. Prior to the purchase of any materials, every team was required to present their design to a member of the Post Advising Team to verify all safety and design requirements were met. At the end of the year, the teams assembled their Rube Goldberg devices in line with one another for a multi-system start to finish display. Each team’s device relied on an input from the previous team and an output transfer to the following team’s device. Over 100 guests were in attendance during the final Rube Goldberg demonstration and awards ceremony. In addition to designing Rube Goldberg devices, the Explorer Post took a tour of the LMSI-Owego facility, which included the MH-60 flight simulator. For questions about the Engineer Explorer Post or information about joining next year's program, please contact Paul Mittan @ (607) 751-4471. Below are pictures from this year's project. 2007/2008 Project The 2007/2008 project was to design, prototype and build hovercrafts. The design process began with students working in small teams to study the science behind a hovercraft and develop remote-controlled prototypes. After a number of tests with multiple prototypes, the teams worked together to design and build eight full-scale hovercrafts. 2006/2007 Project The 2006/2007 project was to design, prototype and build trebuchets. Each student studied the physics of a trebuchet, beginning with a computer simulation and miniature prototypes. After a number of tests using the prototypes, five teams were formed and each team was tasked with developing a full-scale trebuchet using a number of specific design requirements. 2005/2006 Project The 2005/2006 project was building Robots using the LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(TM) Robotics Invention System. Four teams designed and competed with robots that were capable of following a line and passing infrared signals to one another. 2004/2005 Project The 2004/2005 project was building telescopes. The Explorer's spent many nights in the model shop/manufacturing area in building 001. We were constructing three reflector telescopes and more than a dozen small refractor telescopes. 2003/2004 Project We had four teams of Explorers building four planes with assistance from our Post advisors, Rick Curtis and Rodger Fritz. We also received assistance from volunteers of LMSI - Owego and from the Aeroguidance Society, a local organization that specializes in building and flying remote-controlled airplanes. 2002/2003 Project The 2002/2003 project was the LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(TM) Robotics Invention System. We had four teams that competed for the best design and working model. 2001/2002 Project The 2001/2002 project was a software engineering project. Object Oriented (OO) methods and the JAVA programming language were used to develop internet hosted applications. The application was a hangman game (the familiar game where the player tries to guess all the letters in a secret word before his wrong guesses hang a man). After designing and analyzing the application, groups/individuals developed individual programming objects that were integrated to provide a working game. Time expired before we were able to enhance the game with scoring features and selectable options. We had a demo on software systems based on genetic algorithms that learn (artificial intelligence) that we could build upon to design software "robots" that play the game and compete against each other. 2000/2001 Project For the 2000-2001 season teams worked with radio and wireless communications. The project was building an FM radio receiver, starting with basic components, soldering the wires, testing and integrating the components to receive a live radio signal. 1999/2000 Project In 1999-2000, we experimented with robots, using the LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(TM) Robotics Invention System. We were inspired by the Cornell Robotics Soccer Team during our visit to Cornell University. 1998/1999 Project The project for 1999-2000 was building remote controlled airplanes. We used this project to develop many skills involved in engineering, science and business. 1997/1998 Project The first project in 1998 was building a Web site, which was the precursor to this web site. LEGO is a registered trademark of the LEGO Group MINDSTORM is a trademark of the LEGO Group Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego Home Page Disclaimer Web site comments, contact Paul Mittan Last Update July 24, 2008