Cable Car Competition

November 16, 2004 ~ Advanced Technology Center, Virginia Beach Campus
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The TCC Engineering Club held a cable car competition on Tuesday, Nov 16, in the ATC. We had 12 teams of high school students from the ATC along with 18 teams/individual entries from the TCC Engineering program. There were cash prizes for the top 4 places. TCC Engineering students captured 1st and 2nd place while ATC high school students captured 3rd and 4th place.

Roster of participants and competition results

Pictures - 46 photos with captions -

Official rules

The goal of the competition was to build a vehicle to travel along a 40 ft cable stretched between two of the upper walkways in the ATC using a motor from Radio Shack, a 9V battery, and whatever other materials were desired. The cable car needed to travel 40 ft along the cable, crash into a wooden barrier at the end, and return. The starting time and stopping time were recorded using a photo gate similar to the sensors that stop a garage door from closing on your car.

The competition was challenging - only 12 of the 30 cable cars entered finished the course. However, nearly all of them made it at least half way through the course. Many failed when they ran into the board at the end of the track - sometimes scattering parts on the first floor far below the cable!

We had a lot of fun and saw many innovative designs. It was great to see ATC high school students and TCC engineering students participating together. This is our second year sponsoring a joint competition and we hope to keep it as an annual event.