Information for participants

Letter of Intent

The Letter of Intent should include:

  • Project title
  • Name(s) of the participant(s)
  • One contacting postal address
  • One e-mail address
  • University affiliation(s)
  • Category – Undergraduate or Graduate
  • 100-200 word description of the project
  • Faculty sponsor’s signed letter stating the eligibility of the student(s) to participate

Final Written Report

The Final Written report consists of two separate documents + a video submission:

1. A Cover Page including (Judges will NOT see the Cover Page)

  • Project title
  • Name(s) of the participant(s)
  • One contacting postal address
  • One e-mail address
  • University affiliation
  • Category – Undergraduate or Graduate
  • Faculty sponsor’s name
  • Acknowledgments, by name (optional)

2. A Project description including: (Do not mention your name(s) or affiliation anywhere in the project description)

  • Brief background
  • Functional description of the mechanism/robot
  • Clear statement of the novel features of the mechanism/robot
  • Procedures used to design the mechanism/robot
  • Benefits and possible applications of the mechanism/robot
  • Acknowledgment of help from others including faculty, machine shop personnel, laboratory technicians, etc. Do not mention names!
  • All appropriate figures, tables, photographs, etc, incorporated into the document

3. Video Submission: (Do not mention your name(s) or affiliation anywhere in the video)

  • A video of the entry must be submitted.
  • Up to 1 minute in length.
  • Both video content and production quality will be judged.
  • Can include recorded video, animations, simulations, etc.

The Cover Page and the Project Description should be submitted as two separate PDF files.

The project description should be roughly 1000 – 2000 words in length, prepared with a word processor, and submitted in PDF electronic format. The report must be no longer than 10 pages, including images, but not including the cover page. Participants may format the report in any way they like to maximize the readability and presentation of the technical content. Please contact the competition coordinators if you have any questions in this regard.

Submission

The required documents are to be emailed to yushe@mit.edu with the subject '[ASME SMRDC 2020]'

Awards

Winners of the competition will be recognized during the Mechanisms & Robotics conference luncheon. Cash award will be presented to the first 3 teams in both undergraduate and graduate division along with certificate.

Travel Funds

We are grateful for the support of ASME! We will partially cover student's competition costs including airfare, registration and hotel stay for domestic participants. Limited funds may be available for international participants. Stay tuned for further details.