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JPL Annual Invention Challenge - 2011

Under beautiful blue skies and a light wind, the JPL Invention Challenge was held last Friday on the 180 Mall with more than 300 spectators and participants. This year's contest objective was to build a device that kicked a regulation size and weight football into a trashcan located five meters away. Each team was allowed to have their device kick the football a maximum of three times within a one minute time interval. Points were awarded for getting close to or inside the trashcan. The winner was the team whose device accumulated the most points.

View event photos

A total of 23 school teams and 7 JPL teams came up with different ways to accomplish this task. The energy sources were varied such as surgical tubing, bungee cords, gravity, springs, and compressed air. The complete list and total scores are shown below for each of the entries.

This year, the JPL teams and the school teams performed tremendously well. In the case of the school teams, a total of six teams received a perfect score of 150 points. Those 6 teams participated in a tiebreaker round in which each team had one "kick" towards the trashcan that had a smaller opening (15.5 inches in diameter versus the original 20.3 inch diameter). Additionally an extra 10 points was awarded if the ball did not touch the rim when going inside the trashcan (60 points). Remarkably, two teams kicked their football into the trashcan as a "swish" so a second tiebreaker round was held at which point Culver City High School came out on top and Crescenta Valley High School came in second place.

In January, a series of photographs will be posted on the site, and a few DVD copies of the video may be made available.

Entry No. School Team Weight (lbs) Total Score Comments
001 South Pasadena Middle School M&M 35 70 Most Artistic
002 Monroe Magnet Middle School Foothill Ninjas 35 50 Most Creative
004 Diamond Bar High School Team Sprocket 60 45
005 Los Angeles Senior High School Roman Builders 60 110
007 Temple City High School The Avengers 40 20
008 Temple City High School XUFTC 50 50
009 Temple City High School Dai Lo 65 110
010 San Marcos High School Royal Pains 35 150 3rd Place - School
011 Pacific Technology School-Santa Ana Pac Tech Kick 120 130 Most Unusual
016 Bancroft Middle School Bob the Builders 40 30
032 Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies LACES Rocketeers 450 90 Heaviest
039 Culver City HS Shockolate 65 150 1st Place - School
041 Culver City HS Manana 25 90
043 Crescenta Valley HS CVHS #1 100 90
045 Crescenta Valley HS CVHS #3 80 150 2nd Place - School
052 Morningside HS Beltran in the Middle 50 130
054 Alexander Hamilton HS Team Best Team 90 150 4th Place - School
057 Savanna HS LEMJM 35 150 6th Place - School
059 Savana HS No Punt Intended 30 90
065 Granite Hills HS 180 90
069 Gabrielino High School Moneyball Eagles 95 40
077 South East High School Jaguars #2 40 110
078 Diamond Bar HS DBHS Team A 250 150 4th Place - School Largest
101 Richard Goldstein 20 130 2nd Place - JPL Smallest, Lightest
102 Kristan Ellis 25 20
103 Kristan Ellis 100 0
104 Cameron Goodale, Paul Ramirez, and Keith Hill 170 150 1st Place - JPL
105 Gary Gray 120 45
106 Troubleshooting Troubleshooting 360 65
107 Andy Etters, Mark Rober, Dan Vartolomei 130 130 2nd Place - JPL

I wish to thank all of the volunteers (listed below) that put on the show. Without their help, the event would not have been possible. A special thanks goes out to Kim Lievense and her Public Services team, headed by Roni Dash, for collecting the entry forms and video release forms and processing more than 200 student badges for all of the student teams. I also wish to acknowledge the talented work performed by Robert Denise for being the master of ceremonies during the extra-long 140 minute contest. I also would like to thank Jeff Locke (punter for UCLA Bruins Football Team) for coming out and talking with the students.

Name: Position:
Paul MacNeal Organizer
Rich Alvidrez General Helper
David Breda Assistant to organizer
Bernardo Lopez Assistant to organizer
Sherry Stukes Recording Secretary
Scott Widholm Recording Secretary
Chris Landry Referee
Robert Denise Announcer
Steven Wissler Check-in
Daniel Turner Check-in
Juan Fernandez Check-in
Robert Haw Football Checker
Hart Finger Timer
Fabien Nicaise Field Judge
Clayton Dilks Football Spotter
K. Charles Wang Football Spotter
Andres Andrade Football Spotter
Lyn Repath-Martos Area Patroller
Kent Frewing Area Patroller
Brian Morrison Area Patroller
Joseph Joe Set-up Helper
Julia Stalder Set-up Helper
Scott Widholm Set-up Helper
Scott Widholm Clean-up helper
Amiee Quon Photographer
Wesley Kuykendall Photographer
Bryan Johnson Photographer
David Tseng Videographer
Pamela Huntoon Judge
Jeffrey Dollinger Judge
Paul Bailey Judge
Jeff Locke Honorary 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

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