More FAQ & Rules Clarifications:

What constitutes the starting single unit before the components separate? >>>

Can components (i.e. motors, popping mechanism) be already active before a round starts? >>>

The longest diagonal of a cubic foot space is 20.785 in. Does any robot exceeding 12 inches have to fit within a 1 ft. cube starting space when placed in the starting block? >>>

Secretary position in DC 2003 Exective Board is available. Responsibilities include:

· Take attendance and minutes during exec board meetings
· Compile resume books
· Oversee scholarships committee
· Act as historian (save and organize all records of DC)
· Organize Election

All you need to do is write a paragraph stating why they you like to be on DC and how the position fits you. Please e-mail Shinie Shaw the paragraphs by midnight of May 20th.

We can give you answer within 2 weeks.
You can e-mail Shinie Shaw with questions.

We have put an X through your sign up's because our Exec Board decided that
we would need some time to repaint and fix the course. Thus, there will be
no more practice on the course starting 12pm on Thursday, May 16.

We apologize for not letting you know about this earlier.

• B224
• GZ Bucket

Due to the fact that you missed the milestone and failed to make any contact after our subsequent email on conducting a safety review, we have decided to DISQUALIFY you from participating in DC 2002.

Any further questions on this matter can be directed to our Exec Board.

If you are a member of Team Shocker, please email Kulsum Akbar immediately and
let her know if you are still interested in participating in DC 2002.

If we don't hear from you within a week, it will be assumed that you are not going to be participating.

The starting robot has to be one UNIT, however this unit can be defined as composed of touching sub-units instead of firmly connected sub-units.

E-mail Kulsum Akbar if you need more details.

THE FOLLOWING TEAMS PLEASE TAKE NOTE:

• B224
• GZ Bucket
• You know, those guys and girls
• Impromptu
• Hickory Smoked Southern Duckfelt

Since you missed the milestone on Saturday, we are giving you one last chance to redeem yourself before completely DISQUALIFYING you. Please report to:

MG47 (Tech lab Helpdesk) tomorrow (Tues, 4/30)
between 12pm and 4pm
to get a Safety Review done
by Course Design Team Member Henry Hendrawan (henry@northwestern.edu)

IF YOU DO NOT REPORT FOR THE SAFETY REVIEW, YOU WILL BE COMPLETELY DISQUALIFIED FROM PARTICIPATING IN DC 2002.

At this point, we are going to take away your $100 reimbursement from the second milestone but still allow you to compete upon the completion of the safety review.

Please sign up for a 15-minute timeslot (the sheet will be posted by Tuesday for sure) for on the DC Bulletin Board (opposite M210) for your robot review.
To get your first choice, please sign up soon!

FOLLOWING IS A REMINDER ABOUT MILESTONE PROCEDURES:
FINANCES: Please save all your receipts (store and online) and bring them signed for reimbursement.
SAFETY REVIEW: Robots will be reviewed to make sure that they are being built in compliance with the rules for DC 2002

All COMPETING TEAMS (both funded and unfunded) will need to attend the milestones in order to allow the DC Exec Board to check that the robots comply with the safety and rules regulations.

ANY TEAM IN VIOLATION OF DEADLINES AND RULES WILL IMMEDIATELY BE DISQUALIFIED TO COMPETE IN DC 2002.

Following are the details:

"My team has misplaced our project box containing almost everything we have been working on. we think we may have left it in sigma chi while testing it last week. the box has our team name and our individual names on it. could you please let us know if anything turns up? thanks. "

Saleel Kulkarni

Clarifications on course practice signup.

Please make note of the fact hat you can start practicing on the course. There is a sign-up sheet on the DC Bulletin Board (across M210) for you to sign up for time slots.

• The slots are 2 hours each and are for 24-hours / 7-days a week (unless we need maintenance time.)
• Please do not sign up for a time slot in the same 24-hour period.

If you have signed up for more than 2 hours to practice in a 24 hour period, you will be warned 3 times and then given some sort of disciplinary action by the DC Exec Board.

Please make sure that you do NOT go into the practice area when another team is practicing because each team is alloted their PRIVATE 2 hour practice time slot.

It has come to our notice that some of the teams are making their robots resistant only to deionized water.

Please note that the water in the pipes will be normal faucet water. Please build your robot accordingly.

It has become a DC tradition for teams to designate a song that would best represent their robot. The time has come again for you to e-mail your robot theme song.

The song will be played every time your robot is competing on the course.

Please e-mail your song with the e-mail subject: TeamName_DCThemeSong to Kulsum Akbar.

Mark your calendars:

The 2002 Design Competition course will be unveiled at our:

Annual DC Mixer
Thursday, April 4, 2002
3 p.m.-5 p.m
at
Sigma Chi

Please invite your advisers and invite them to the mixer!

Dear McCormick Student,

We would like to invite you to run for positions on the Design Competition (DC) Exec Board for 2002- 2003 academic year.

In DC, students build an autonomous robot designed to navigate a course, and cash prizes are given to the winners. It is the job of the DC Exec Board to raise the funds for both building the course and subsidizing the teams. Other duties that the exec board has include designing and building the course, organizing competition day, interacting with corporate sponsors and McCormick faculty, and extending DC's publicity.

There are many different positions on the exec board that would suit any
talent and interest. The following positions will be open:

Design Competition not only offers the students on the exec board design experience and exposure to industry, but it offers two ECE 399 credits as well.

Certain positions are limited to people with prior DC experience. The job
descriptions will be available here.

If you would like to apply, send your application in a Word document attached to an email to dcexec2002@yahoo.com.

Applications are due by 11 PM on April 10th.

Those people currently participating on DC teams can and are encouraged to apply.

Make sure to e-mail your application to: dcexec2002@yahoo.com

You can download and print-out the job descriptions.

Chair (requirements: DC exec or team experience)

• Act as liaison to other McCormick student groups (attend NESC meetings) and administration
• Preside over all meetings and make an agenda and timeline
• Delegate work effectively and evenly

Corporate Relations Chair (requirements: DC exec experience)

• Maintain contact with past and current sponsors (even over the summer) and keep them updated and involved with DC
• Identify new sponsors (Industry Day, Office of Industry Relations, Coop Office,
  DC alumnae)
• Come up with creative ways to raise additional money for DC and minimize
  expenses (ie. Sell water or sun screen)
• Send receipts and invoices to companies
  

Assistant Corporate Relations

• Find company contacts
• Locate and coordinate food sponsors for the day of the competition
• Find new ways to promote DC year-round (ie, mugs, calendars, etc.)

Assistant Corporate Relations – Publicity

• Design the DC T-shirt and logo
• Make invitations, thank you notes, and promotion brochures to entice new
  sponsors
• Publicize any DC event (ie. Kickoff and Competition) by chalking, distributing flyers, hanging a banner in tech lobby, etc.

Secretary

• Take attendance and minutes during exec board meetings
• Compile resume books
• Oversee scholarships committee
• Act as historian (save and organize all records of DC)
• Organize Election

Finance (preference: knowledge of CUFFs and SOFO accounts)

• Create a line-by-line budget for the DC exec
• Keep records of all money spent
• Provide reimbursements to teams at all milestones

Team Director (requirements: DC exec or team experience)

• Set up the DC-team listserv (adding/deleting members)
• Act as team liaison (answering/directing team questions to the board, updating teams with important dates/submission deadlines, etc.)
• Coordinate tutorials with Kevin Lynch, Rich Dojutrek, Steve Jacobson, et al.
• Keep track of teams’ members (graduation years and majors)

Festivities

• Reserve rooms for Kickoff, Milestones, Mixer, etc.
• Order food and find caterers
• Coordinate drop-off and pick-up of equipment and reserve Garrett Place, Garrett Lawn, Patten Gym, tables, tents, generators, sound systems, risers, bleachers, etc.
• Organize cooking and distribution of food and drinks
  

Webmaster

• Create DC website and update it at least 3 times a week (this includes course rules, course diagrams, FAQ, announcements, keep statistics, etc.)
• Communicate with Teams Director and post announcements regularly
• Maintain discussion board service to facilitate the communication between teams and exec board

Course Design Director (requirement: DC team experience)

• Act as liaison between Course Design Committee and exec board
• Overseeing a feasible course design
• In charge of the double elimination bracket
• Set up and guard the course during the day of the competition

Course Design – two positions (preference: Mech E, Civ E, ECE and familiar with CAD, SolidWorks, or Pro-E)

• Design a technically feasible course
• Set up and guard the course during the day of the competition
  

Course Design – Rules

• Consult exec boards to prevent loopholes in rules and course
• Prepare contracts and work with the legal office
• Set up and guard the course during the day of the competition

Our treasurer, Judy Tsai, will be able to provide your reimbursement checks
in Tech Express at the following times this week:

Thursday (3/14) 3:30pm-4:00pm
Friday (3/15) 10:00am-10:30am

There will also be times during next week when you can obtain your checks
from her.

Please email Judy Tsai to verify whether you are receiving a check.

Resume Submission Deadline Extended:
If you haven't submitted your resume yet, please email it to Kevin Hughes.

DC Tutorial III MAKEUP SESSION (mandatory)
Use of Machine Shop
Tuesday, February 26, 7 p.m.
Tech BG11
by
Richard Dojutrek (ME)

A a short overview of the machines and supplies available for DC competitors. This usually takes less than 1 hour. Rich will explain the ground rules for shop usage and what equipment is available for DC to use. Included is a short demonstration of some equipment which is most popular with DC.

* If teams don't come to the overview meeting Rich will not allow them to use the shop.

* This is the only makeup session that will be offered to the teams who missed the previous session by rich.

Please note that the deadline for submitting your resume is March 1st.

Just like last year, the Design Competition Exec Board will be compiling a resume book to hand in to our corporate sponsors. The sponsors greatly appreciate this and are more willing to peruse through a resume book of competitors since they view them as potential candidates for jobs/internships recruiting.

Therefore, if you are an underclassman or upperclassman and are looking for a job, please e-mail our secretary, Kevin Hughes in FirstNameLastName_Resume format and enclose your resume to be added into DC 2002's Resume Book.

A a short overview of the machines and supplies available for DC competitors. This usually takes less than 1 hour. Rich will explain the ground rules for shop usage and what equipment is available for DC to use. Included is a short demonstration of some equipment which is most popular with DC.

Note: If teams don't come to the overview meeting Rich will not allow them to use the shop.

The Mechatronics Design Laboratory, located in the ITEC (BIRL) building on Maple, will be available to students participating in DC. The Mechatronics Design Lab is a facility to support undergraduate design of electromechanical systems, and consists of six workstations
with PC's with control cards, oscilloscopes, function generators, power supplies, multimeters, wire, and hand tools. The lab also
has a variety of electrical components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, op-amps, integrated circuits) for use in projects.
For more information on the lab, visit the website.

Any student interested in using the lab for DC must attend this orientation meeting.

DC Tutorial II:
Use of Motors
Monday, February 11, 5:30p.m.
M345
by
Prof. Kevin Lynch (ME)

Here are some of the important dates that the DC 2002 Exec Board has set for this year's competition. Please make note:

• February 16th: 1st Milestone
• April 6th: Mixer
• April 27th: 2nd Milestone
• May 18th: Competition

Note: to see the calendar click here.

Still need team members names and graduation years from the following teams:

• B224
• Victory Right
• Ill-Tempered Sea Bass
• Rolled Fillets of Imported Anchovies w/ Capers
• Huge
• Shocker

Also, all unfunded, yet competing teams will need to submit:

• Team Name
• Team Members
• and Graduation years.

Note: Teams will not be allowed to reorganize or included more members starting February 1, 2002.

Just to give you a heads up on the first milestone to be held on Saturday, February, 16, 2002. (Time TBA, but probably 9 a.m.)

Finances: Please save all your receipts (store and online) and bring them signed for reimbursement.

Safety Review: Robots will be reviewed to make sure that they are being built in compliance with the rules for DC 2002

All Competing Teams (both funded and unfunded) will need to attend the milestones in order to allow the DC Exec Board to check that the robots comply with the safety and rules regulations.

ANY TEAM IN VIOLATION OF DEADLINES AND RULES WILL IMMEDIATELY BE DISQUALIFIED TO COMPETE IN DC 2002.

(Please email dc@northwestern.edu if you have questions in this regard. Rules can be found here.)