ME185: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering                                                                                      Spring 1998   WALLS OF JERICHO Yale University Robots Compete in Biblical Themes Monday April 27, 7pm, Davies Auditorium Following in the ME185 tradition of design competitions with biblical themes, this years contest is a meticulously constructed re-enactment of the destruction of the walls of Jericho. As the story goes, while Joshua led the Israelites around the walled city, the priests blew their trumpets, and the walls came tumbling down (Old Testament, Joshua chapter 6).
The contestants are charged with bringing down those remnants of the walls which, according to our painstaking research, remained standing after the great tumbling. To accomplish the task, each of the contestants will receive a kit of parts, with which they must design and build a joystick controlled robot. Each of these robots will then compete in one-on-one competition with the other robots in an elimination format until one, and only one, emerges victorious.
One robot will start out in each of the designated starting areas. Contestants score points by knocking over the pieces of the wall on their side of the contest table, including free-standing posts worth 1 point, buried posts with a cross-member worth 2 points, and buried U-shaped pieces worth 3 points each.
An oft forgotten portion of the story of Jericho is that a portion of the wall was left standing in order to save the family of Rahab from destruction. However, the family pet, which has an uncanny resemblance to the Yale mascot Handsome Dan , has been stranded at the top of the remaining wall section! The contestant who saves the bulldog by bringing it to their side of the table will be handsomely rewarded with 6 points. (The bulldog is sitting on top of a post hinged to fall to either side of the table, depending on which one of its supports is knocked away first.)   See the smiling faces on our rising engineers presenting their creative vehicles!     Each student came up with different approaches.  Some decided on implementing spikes, while others pursued the way of the "rotating claw."  Nonetheless, everyone is hard at work to prepare for the exciting event.   Now for some testing!  A student here is using the piston to power his vehicle for a trial run-through.   The two frames below show the simulated Walls of Jericho put together by our dedicated TAs and their helpers.  Each student-designed vehicle is expected to be able to bring down the blue and white piped structures.    
   Although students are constructing their tanks and refining their destructive mechanism, the Final Showdown is near!   Contest Rules
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