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June 2015
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
Air & Land Combined Challenge
There are people trapped in a city building after an earth-
quake. Supplies must be air lifted in due to the destruc-
tion of the road network in the aftermath of the earth-
quake. The surrounding area has been determined to be
structurally unsound to send personnel in yet. The task is
to land in the designated safe zone and release the ground
robot to deliver the supplies to the trapped victims. After
the supplies are delivered the robot must return to the air
vehicle to be returned to a safe area for reloading and refu-
eling. The team is unable to see the course during the run,
cameras and sensors are used to complete this mission.
How are the entries judged?
The entries are scored throughout the entire development
process. It is novel because there are points to be earned
throughout the entire process. Only 40% of the total score can
be earned on challenge day, and through the performance
of the system. In addition, the challenge day scoring rubrics
are varied and take into account more criteria than simply
how the system performs. This shows that there is more to
a successful engineering effort than simply building a Rube-
Goldberg machine.
What are good engineering processes and why is it
important that they are used throughout the Challenge?
The scoring rubric and structure of the program ensures
kids go through an engineering process similar to that
used in the DoD. This process ensures they have carefully
considered their design before they begin to fabricate. It
also ensures there are stage gates in the program so they
cannot simply construct something the week before the
challenge and show up on challenge day. This is important
because such a mindset will not be successful at completing
the complex challenges, and because this approach is not
practical in real life engineering programs.
Has the program grown since its inception? How?
The program has grown from a handful of teams in the
first year to a maximum of 22 this year. We have been
very careful to manage growth to insure we worked all the
bugs out of our challenges before we expanded. It is very
important not to overwhelm the educators and mentors,
and this is best achieved through good structure, thorough
educator training, and clear, concise support materials.
We have also had to develop a significant support network
of mentors and volunteers to ensure the costs are kept low
and the experience for the kids is rewarding.
How does the use of SOF (Special Operations Forces)
help the students participating in the Challenge?
Special Operations Forces are the best of the best. They
have received considerable publicity during the recent
global wars on terror and receive tremendous respect
throughout the country. They are good communicators,
willing participants, and the technology utilized in their
asymmetric style engagements fit perfectly into the types
of challenges we believe will help train the next generation
of scientists and engineers.
What has been the most positive outcome of the
Challenge? The most negative?
Challenge day is one of the most fulfilling days I have
ever personally encountered. The participants are almost
universally excited about STEM careers and thankful
they have been given the opportunity to jump-start their
professional development. We have anecdotal evidence
fromseveral students that indicates theprograminfluenced
their career choices. Some of the year-one students are
already pursuing internships in the government and with
DoD primes.
Teacher and mentor participation has been very
disappointing thus far. There are exceptional teachers
that embrace the program, who teach themselves,
embrace our training, and are dedicated to using the
program as a valuable teaching tool. However, there are
also several teachers that are unwilling to dedicate the
time and personal effort required to use the challenge to
help their students. The same can be said for the required
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Butler Terrible Terrabot Team
