72-Hour Build-a-Thon Ends with Innovation Showcase at Red Bull Creation
Jul 11, 2011
| BROOKLYN, N.Y., July 11, 2011 – As the crowds gathered around 3:00pm ET on Sunday, McCarren Park was transformed into an alternate universe of iPad-controlled water balloon wars, mechanical bulls made of tires, and of course, the stage for 16 teams to show the world what they and their brilliant creations were made of.
After 72 hours worth of fast-paced engineering, design and fabrication, the team that earned this year’s Red Bull Creation crown was Minneapolis' 1.21 Jigawatts. To paraphrase what they created: A massive hamster wheel, wired into a mobile network, given its own phone number that could receive up to 60,000 one-word text messages at a time. Once it received the text message, the hamster wheel would actually roll and print the word out along the ground in a dot-matrix style, using a row of synced up spray paint cans. They were awarded a grand prize of $5,000, as well as laser cutting equipment for each team member to use at their home shop. |
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Also during the event, Red Bull Creation announced an added incentive titled “The People’s Maker Award” which was given to the team that had the most “Likes” on their profile page. The winner of this award would receive a Power Wave® C300 machine courtesy of Lincoln Electric.
After all the counts were tallied, Team 23b out of Fullerton, CA took home the prize. As for their contribution to the event, the team created an innovative teeter totter that tests your hand-eye coordination and reaction time. When one side of the teeter totter is in the upmost position, the lights flash green, and the first player to press the button (made from bike brakes) scores a point.
"I think the game actually makes it a little more fun because you're aware of your motion and what you’re doing with the coordination between your spatial location and your button pressing. It adds a little different dimension." said Dan Lozano of 23b. "It looks like a pile of junk at first glance, but as you understand what it does and you play with it and engage with it a little bit, it engages back with you." |
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The following components were used to create 23b’s project:
• Bed frames
• Bicycle
• Wheelchair motor (generator)
• Car battery (charged by wheelchair motor)
• Micro processor
• LED lights
• Plastic flamingos |
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Throughout the competition, teams had access to a variety of welding and cutting equipment to fabricate components of their projects. In an effort to bring teams up to speed on the best methods to use these machines, former MythBusters cast member, Scottie Chapman, was brought in as a technical advisor.
"Obviously, people are going to have to do some welding. I mean, they're cutting things apart - they're going to have to put them back together. No team is going to be able to totally avoid welding." said Chapman. "Everybody's really excited about it [welding] you know. I've heard some people say 'Oh, I've always wanted to try this and I've never done it and I've meant to do it for years.’”
To see more images captured from the event, visit http://on.fb.me/RedBullCreation
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