In 1988, the Panel on Engineering Design initiated a national "design and build" competition, known today as the Weir Minerals Design and Build Competition. In the past it was named the Warman Competition due to sponsorship by the Warman pump company. Following their takeover by Weir Minerals it has changed name and is very generously sponsored by Weir Minerals. The competition is open to students in mechanical engineering who are in their first or second year of study. The competition receives entries from the Asia Pacific region, with most from Australia and NZ. Heats are held as part of design engineering courses, typically in second year, at most universities. The campus winners then converge on the national final to determine who are the region's best budding designers.

THE CONTEXT

A strategically important Gondwanan manufacturing industry is facing a challenge in material handling - unfortunately as a result of poor systems engineering and risk management. In a congested location, new infrastructure in the form of an overhead bridge structure to carry slurry has been introduced at great expense, but, the planning process failed to account for the spatial impact it now has on moving other product in specialised spherical containers between a recently recommissioned processing plant and the corresponding warehousing facilities. The slurry bridge significantly bisects and limits the space between the plant and warehouse facilities. In the new constrained environment, the old handling system will not work. Therefore, tenders are being called for a new and novel approach to moving the spheres.
Output from the processing plant is presented at three levels and is to be transferred to the warehouse which has similarly spaced receiving stations, also at three levels. While there is an ability to shuffle containers in the warehouse it is preferable that the new handling system minimise additional work in the warehouse.

The Gondwanans have aptly described the project as "Pick-and-Place", have contracted this to "pick'n'place" and now refer to it as Project PnP. For them it has a high priority for resolution.

THE CHALLENGE

The challenge is to design a prototype system to meet the needs of the Gondwanan industry. The industry is important to the Gondwanans and the product is highly valuable yet volatile. Therefore, for safety reasons, an effective and efficient unmanned automatic system is perceived by the Gondwanans to be most appropriate. This concept frames their call for tenders and the competition they are conducting.
Fortunately, teams of engineering students from Earth are about to visit Gondwana as part of their work experience programmes. On previous visits such engineering students have rendered invaluable assistance with solutions to similar engineering problems, and the Gondwanans again are hoping to benefit from the ideas of the innovative budding engineers.

OBJECTIVE

The objective is to design, build and prove a prototype system in a laboratory environment that serves to transfer a payload of game balls on the defined track in accordance with the rules. In context, can you design the best system to pick and place product in the form of spherical containers between production and warehousing facilities?
Can you assist in Project PnP?

National Organiser
Dr Warren Smith
Phone: 02 6268 8262

• View the 2011 Weir Minerals Competition Rules Version 1.1
• View past competitions 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | Pre 2000
• Read A retrospective - Eleven Years On