Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division’s Doug Griggs supported the Maryland Engineering Challenge—Cargo Ship Challenge event held annually at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.
This science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) challenge asked Maryland high school students to design and build a cargo ship that was capable of carrying 40 pounds of sugar around a course in the Baltimore Inner Harbor on April 14, adhering to constraints on length, draft and using a specified motor for propulsion.
Over the several months that preceded Sunday’s competition, Griggs provided five teams with propellers that were designed by Carderock’s Thad Michael and 3D printed by Mark Melendez and Ryan Franke. Griggs taught the students in one team how to fiberglass, and a couple more teams how to solder, as well as provided design advice to all five teams at various points in the design and build process. Three teams of five who started the challenge had completed their cargo ships and presented them for competition.
“One aspect of this and similar challenges that seem to be often overlooked is the need to learn and apply project management skills to complete a project of this magnitude,” Griggs said. “Challenges like this afford an opportunity to teach these skills, and in future years the challenge materials should include some more specific project-management guidance, perhaps with some intermediate goals like: final-design complete, hull-construction complete, control and propulsion system test, and in-water testing.”
Of the teams that did complete their cargo ship, one was from Poolesville High School in Montgomery County (the Night Owls) and two teams from Bel Air High in Harford County (the Engineers and the Belarians). The students submitted written reports and provided an oral report, as well as answered questions by the head judge, Paul Wiedorn, a Navy veteran and teacher in Carrol County schools.
The teams then launched their cargo ship, loaded the 40 pounds of sugar and ran the prescribed course in Baltimore Harbor. Griggs recorded the time it took to transit the course and provided the data to Wiedorn for his scoring sheet.
Inspection and oral reports began at noon with the Bel Air High Engineers. When all the teams completed the inspection and oral reports, Wiedorn sent them to the Downtown Sailing Center pier to check in with Griggs. The Engineers efficiently loaded their ship and got underway directly. Their ship ran slowly, but took off after loading and completed the course with no casualties, earning them a bonus for reliability.
The next team up was the Belarians, also from Bel Air High. They loaded up and headed for the starting gate, but quickly realized that their rudder was jammed. They were able to recover the ship before it entered the course, and decided to unload the cargo and “drydock” their ship and address the root cause of the jam.
While the Belarians were hard at work problem solving, the Night Owls from Poolesville High launched and loaded their ship. They entered the course at sea speed, rounded the first buoy and ran the balance of the course flawlessly. The pilot even executed a decent mooring maneuver at the end of the run.
By the time that the Night Owls had completed the course, the Belarians finished repairing the rudder and re-launched. After re-loading cargo, they entered the course and this time navigated the course with authority, completing the loop in just under five minutes.
In the final results, the Night Owls took top honors, the Belarians were second and the Engineers were third, separated from the Belarians by a single point.
“The team learned so much from Carderock this year during their building process, inclding design, model building an dfinal building,” said Zeck Huang, a teacher at Poolesville High School. “At the beginning, we knew nothing about boat building. After they went through the building process, they are very comfortable to tackle projects in the future.”
For the first time in memory, all of the ships that showed up to compete successfully completed the course and there was no need to use a rescue boat.
“It is evident that this challenge requires a significant amount of time and concentration to successfully complete it, more than most teams expect at the outset,” Griggs said.