Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition

The annual ASME Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition (SMRDC) is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their ability to design and build a mechanism or a robot in front of respected world-renowned experts from academia and industry.

About

The competition comprises two rounds:

Round 1 (Qualifying Round): Participants submit a Letter of Intent and a written report on their entry. All entries are evaluated by a panel of judges chosen from academe and industry.  The top five entries in each category qualify for the next round. 

Round 2 (Demo and Presentation):  This round will be held at the 2024 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences  from August 25–28, 2024,  in Washington, DC, USA at the JW Marriott Washington.  Each team will be required to make:

For this competition, a mechanism is defined as:

"Any device that transmits a force or a motion to perform a mechanical task.  It may consist of rigid or deformable bodies connected with kinematic or flexural joints.  It may be constructed of any type of materials, including smart and other active materials.  It may be actuated by means of any transduction principle and employ any form of energy input.  The size of the device can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale."

A robot is defined as:

"An electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. A robot should be able to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical linkage, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, such as behavior that mimics humans or other animals. The size of a robot can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale."

Important Dates (2024)

Due dates are all Eastern Time at 11:59 pm. 

2023 ASME SMRDC.pdf