Bishop Dunne Falcon Trio Compete at Innovation Day at UTA, Meet Arlington's Mayor

Bishop Dunne was invited to compete in an engineering competition on October 22, 2015, at the University of Texas at Arlington as part of their Innovation Day.

The challenge was to build a self-contained car, no larger than 8” by 8” by 8”, which could travel through a 25-foot path that included a 30-degree ramp. In addition to those requirements, the bill of materials was to be under $50. In less than two weeks, juniors Payton Matous, Robert Elizondo, and Tristan Newton designed and built a car that was propelled by torsional spring that met all of the requirements.

A torsion spring is a spring that works by torsion or twisting; that is, a flexible elastic object that stores mechanical energy when it is twisted. When it is twisted, it exerts a force, actually torque, in the opposite direction, proportional to the amount or angle it is twisted. The common mousetrap is a simple example of a helical torsion spring.

Their project was at the level of, if not higher, than some vehicles at the university level bracket. Unfortunately, they did not win the top prize, but they gained valuable experience from the competition and enjoyed wonderful speeches about innovation from the mayor Jeff Williams of Arlington and other speakers.

Interested in learning more about the Engineering, Robotics, GIS Mapping, Physics and other science courses at Bishop Dunne? You can be a Falcon for a Day! For more information: www.bdcs.org or call 214-339-6561.

National Geographic Photographer Joe Satore is coming to GEO TECH February 25, 2016, 7:00 p.m. at Bishop Dunne.

GeoTech: Where Earth, Technology, and Exploration Meet.

The conference is now in its 28th year. For more information contact Monica de la Cerda: mdelacerda@bdcs.org.