JPL Annual Invention Challenge - 2009
Ping Pong Ball Climb Contest
Inside von Karman Auditorium on a rainy day, a packed room with more than 300 people watched an exciting, fun, chaotic, "three-ring" JPL Invention Challenge. It was hard to keep up with the amount of activity that took place during the event. Three simultaneous stations for loading the cardboard bridges to destruction kept onlookers busy just trying to capture the action. I was pleased to see the fantastic turnout for this exciting event. We had 20 student teams and 9 JPL teams show their answer to the set of rules that were posted back in August. The variety of solutions proved to be most entertaining to the 300 or so onlookers at this year's JPL Invention Challenge. It was nice to see that many of the students were proudly wearing their custom made "Ton of Bricks" T-shirts to the finals event.
| Entry No. | School/JPL Name | Team Name | Bridge Name | Passed Inspection | Bridge Wt. (lbs) | Load | Efficiency | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
101 | Richard Goldstein | Lazy-D | Yes | 0.4 | 138.5 | 346.25 | JPL-1st and Lightest | |
109 | David VanBuren | Gull Wing | Yes | 1.82 | 235.4 | 129.34 | JPL-2nd | |
21 | Crescenta Valley High School | Falkon | Try-Angle | Yes | 2.2 | 235.4 | 107 | Student-1st |
22 | Crescenta Valley High School | Falkon | Thin Lizzy | Yes | 2.4 | 165.15 | 68.81 | Student-2nd and Most Unusual |
20 | Crescenta Valley High School | Falkon | Heavy Evy | Yes | 2.4 | 159.4 | 66.42 | Student-3rd |
30 | Temple City | Plan C | Safety Net | Yes | 0.89 | 59 | 66.29 | |
40 | Monrovia | Monrovia HS | Fredo’s Team | Yes | 3.58 | 235.4 | 65.75 | |
106 | Brant Cook | Dunder Mifflin Bridge | Yes | 2.4 | 145.25 | 60.52 | JPL-3rd | |
111 | Tom Roberts | Melvin, I’m NOT Driving Over That thing | Yes | 2.3 | 124.81 | 54.27 | ||
110 | Ray Roberts | Shark Attack | Yes | 2.2 | 105 | 47.73 | ||
31 | Temple City | Capt. Morgan & Crew | The Plank | Yes | 0.83 | 35 | 42.17 | |
8 | Granite Hills | To Mars | none given | Yes | 0.41 | 17.25 | 42.07 | |
35 | Los Angeles Senior High School | Romans 1 | Team 1 | Yes | 5.7 | 235.4 | 41.3 | |
9 | Granite Hills | Tipoes | none given | Yes | 0.42 | 17.25 | 41.07 | |
41 | Magnolia Science | Magnolia Science | Brick master | Yes | 5.7 | 230.5 | 40.44 | |
5 | South Pasadena High School | SPSC | Bridge on the Bricks | Yes | 6 | 235.4 | 39.23 | |
29 | Temple City | QT%%% | Bubble | Yes | 1 | 36 | 36 | Most Artistic |
107 | Paul MacNeal (Exhibition) | KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) | Yes | 1.7 | 59 | 34.71 | ||
15 | Manual Arts High School | none given | none given | Yes | 7.5 | 235.4 | 31.39 | |
104 | Asim Sehic | Strong Like Bull | Yes | 7.5 | 235.4 | 31.39 | ||
6 | Monroe Magnet Middle School | The Godz | Atlas | Yes | 7.6 | 235.4 | 30.97 | Largest |
2 | Arcadia | Billy Goat Gruff | The Octogon | Yes | 7.6 | 230.5 | 30.33 | Smallest |
103 | Gray Troutman | No Glues is Good Glues | DQ | 5.8 | 173 | 29.83 | ||
37 | Los Angeles Senior High School | Romans 3 | Team 3 | Yes | 7.9 | 235.4 | 29.8 | |
4 | Arcadia | Bridge to Alcatraz | The Golden Gate | Yes | 5.4 | 159.31 | 29.5 | Most Creative |
36 | Los Angeles Senior High School | Romans 2 | Team 2 | Yes | 5.5 | 150 | 27.27 | |
28 | Chaminade College Prep School | Eagle Engineering | none given | Yes | 8.8 | 235.4 | 26.75 | Heaviest |
105 | Daniel B. Klein | What’s up, Doc? | Yes | 7.9 | 208.5 | 26.39 | ||
38 | Monrovia | Monrovia HS | Perfect Squares | Yes | 1.88 | 46.5 | 24.73 | |
108 | Scott Shaffer | Lignin Bridge | No show | 0 | ||||
102 | Lawrence P. Weir | Truss me, it’ll hold | No show | 0 |
I wish to thank all of the volunteers (listed below) that put on the show. Without their help, the event would not be possible. A special thanks goes out to Kim Lievense and her Public Services team, headed by Maggie Porter, for organizing all of the entry and release forms and processing more than 160 student badges for all of the student teams. I also wish to acknowledge the talented work performed by Robert Denise for fighting off a head cold and being the announcer and master of ceremonies during the "three-ring circus" contest. My sincere thanks go to Gay Hill, Jess Doherty, Carolina Carnella-Martinez, and the rest of the Media Services staff.
| Name: | Position: |
|---|---|
Paul MacNeal | Organizer |
Richard Alvidrez | General Helper |
David Breda | Assistant to organizer |
Cynthia Bevans | Assistant to organizer |
Fannie Chen | Recording Secretary |
Sherry Stukes | Recording Secretary |
Chris Landry | Referee |
Robert Denise | Announcer |
Anthony Lopez | Check-in |
Coco Mariano | Check-in |
Charlene Paloma | Check-in |
Gloria Mar | Check-in |
Mircea Badescu | Loading Judge |
Ken Hurst | Loading Judge |
Fabien Nicaise | Loading Judge |
James Pura | Bricklayer |
Isaac Brown | Bricklayer |
Anna Intharathut | Bricklayer |
Kris Katagiri | Bricklayer |
Jane Cho | Bricklayer |
Monica King | Bricklayer |
Dan Klein | Bricklayer |
Bernardo Lopez | Bricklayer |
Susan Finley | Bricklayer |
Joseph Joe | Set-up helper |
Charles Garner | Set-up helper |
Scott Widholm | Set-up helper |
John Segui | Set-up helper |
Bernardo Lopez | Set-up helper |
Scott Widholm | Clean-up helper |
Joseph Bergstrom | Photographer |
Steven Wissler | Photographer |
Amelia Quon | Photographer |
Steve Nelson | Videographer |
Majid Sarraf | Judge |
Dave Taylor | Judge |
Paul Bailey | Judge |
Jesse Hwang | Judge |
Contact Information
Public Services Office
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mail Stop 126-347
Located in Building 126-336
Pasadena, CA 91109
Paul MacNeal
paul.d.macneal@jpl.nasa.gov
Phone: (818) 354-7824