OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – Tables filled with tools, parts, and eager students came to life as seventh and eighth graders gathered at the Oil Region Alliance Venango Campus to begin the Komatsu Fluid Power Action Challenge, a hands-on competition designed to introduce students to real-world engineering concepts.
Developed by the National Fluid Power Association, the challenge is “geared to introduce seventh and eighth-grade students to fluid power, hydraulics and pneumatics, and how those are used in industry,” according to Roy Schmoutz of Komatsu.
“We give them a toolkit and pre-cut kits for a rotating platform and a lifting platform that they use to design a model to accomplish the challenge,” Schmoutz explained.
The goal is to design a machine capable of moving a dowel across a game board to score points. Besides building their device, teams must also complete a detailed portfolio outlining their design process, including materials, sketches, and how responsibilities were divided among team members…