SAE Walking Machine Decathlon

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Objectives of the Walking Machine Decathlon include interdisciplinary cooperation among engineering departments, familiarity with the technological advancements
of complex intelligent machines, challenging students to think creatively about evolving technology and planning and budgeting projects.

The Walking Machine Decathlon involves ten events of varying difficulty for the machines to attempt. The reasons for defining the competition as a series of events
in the format of a decathlon are

• To encourage participation by as many universities as possible.
• To encourage interdisciplinary cooperation among students working in teams on specialized projects toward a common goal, where communication and
  sharing of information become essential.
• To engage the interest of the students at different levels of technological development of problem difficulty.
• To provide the students with a sense of what the future holds for this type of technology.

The disciplines that will be addressed by the Decathlon are: kinematics, kinetics, dynamics, controls, materials science, structures, computer science, sensing technology, artificial intelligence, and computer assisted engineering. Additional issues may be addressed such as safety, environmental changes such as those caused by obstacles and terrain, the sensing of and interaction with static and moving objects, real-time control, human factors etc.

Rice University has competed in this program twice. It is a project that offers a lot of training in mechaics and electronics.

Further information and the latest contest rules can be obtained from:

• http://www.sae.org/about/index.htm
• http://www.sae.org/students/walking.htm