Another win in the Rotary Technology Tournament

A boys’ team from Haileybury – consisting of Narsimh Singh (captain), Rob Macpherson-Smith, Edward Songaila and Dan Duckworth – has again won the intermediate category in this week’s Rotary Technology Tournament at the Broxbourne Civic Centre.

Last Tuesday, three teams of four from Haileybury took part in the event. Having won both the intermediate and advanced categories last year, the pressure was on to perform well again.

The challenge set was to design and build a small vehicle powered only by a falling 200gm weight, thus converting gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy. The device would be limited to set maximum dimensions and had to climb an incline. With a small kit of parts to use in the construction of the device, teams were required to use all their ingenuity to develop a successful device. Solutions ranged from systems using a block-and-tackle approach to those based on pulley drive systems.

Following an hour’s design time, construction began and all teams went full speed ahead. Foregoing lunch, the teams worked tirelessly on their devices, readying them for the testing at the end of the afternoon.

When it came time for the final proving of the vehicles, the intermediate teams went first; the girls’ team proving less successful than the boys in the end. The advanced team then had their opportunity which also, unfortunately, did not go well… and neither did that of the staff teams also attempting the advanced challenge.

When the reckoning had been completed and the judges had passed their final verdicts, the Boys’ Intermediate team were pronounced winners, thus retaining the trophy for another year.

Unfortunately the prize in the advanced category was claimed by Richard Hale and will need to be fought for again next year.