How do these three seemingly unrelated items morph together to form a coherent story, I ask you? It seems almost impossible to think that some sort of challenge or competition can be related to a Concorde or to a mystical magnetic field, am I correct? Well, I ask you to continue reading to find out the tale of the links between these on a project that has been on-going since January and has taken up most of my life.
Ok, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but the essence of it is true. As mentioned in my last post, I had entered a competition called the Toyota Technology Challenge, in which my small team of three had to plan, prototype and manufacture a buggy capable of navigating an obstacle course, while maintaining a high level of efficiency and environmentally friendliness.
There we have it. A challenge. For an inexperienced bunch like us, it was an interesting proposition and one we gladly took up without second thought. The first out of many hurdles arrived as such: The challenge website initially suggested that teams start in early September researching and developing ideas. Then, over the following months, assemble a buggy, document everything in a coherent piece of paperwork and submit it to see if you gained a place in the regional finals. The deadline for this is the end of February. The fun part came when the organising teacher only told us about the challenge and the deadline mid-January. We in effect had six weeks to research, build, test and document the entire process within a 20,000 word, 30-page document.
