Engineering Pranksters Wanted

UPDATE

The designs are in, the judges have deliberated and the finalists for DE’s Design Challenge are ...

• Mark Norwood for his water-spraying Sherman tank.
  
• Jason Cox for his remote-controlled PC mouse.
  
• Ray Kelley for his bottlecap blaster.
 

Congratulations to the finalists!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their ideas for DE’s Design Challenge, and to our judges panel: DE’s Kenneth Wong and Tony Lockwood, and SolidSmack’s Josh Mings.

We’ll share their design essays and CAD models in the coming weeks. We plan to announce the winner of the contest on Jan. 25, 2012.

Watch this space for the announcement of the ultimate winner of the Dell Precision™ Workstation with professional AMD FirePro graphics.

Marshmallow-shooting rocket launchers? Gumball-tossing catapults? Paperclip-throwing cyborgs? Voice-responsive critters?

Show us your design creativity and engineering talent in DE‘s inaugural design challenge. Submit your ideas for a cubicle toy that’s guaranteed to inspire, amuse, amaze, or annoy your coworkers, and you could win a Dell Precision™ Workstation with professional AMD FirePro graphics (retail value estimated at more than $5,000) that’s guaranteed to make your coworkers jealous.  

The three-phase contest will run from September 2011 to January 2012. Phase I opens now!

Heres how it works:

Phase I: Ideas were submitted as quick-sketched images. DE editors and honorary judges are selecting 3 top entries. The deadline for submitting ideas was Dec. 2, 2011.

USB helicopters.

Phase II: Three finalists are invited to submit their ideas as 3D models (in IGES, STEP, or another neutral format), along with a short essay (400-800 word) on the design challenges they encountered and how they solved them. Essays will be published online at DE‘s Virtual Desktop blog, followed by podcast interviews. DE editors, honorary judges, and the public will weigh in on each idea, along with suggestions on how to improve it.

Phase III: DE editors and honorary judges will select the grand prize winner and announce it on Jan. 11, 2012 Jan. 25, 2012.

USB missile launcher.

Winners will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Creativity, ingenuity, playfulness, and unconventional thinking
• Making the most ofCAD/CAM/CAE software
• Taking advantage of the computing and graphics horsepower in their current system
 

Solar-powered spider.

The grand prize winner will be invited to share an update on what he/she is able to do with the new Dell workstation with AMD graphics.

Click here for the official contest rules and regulations.

Follow the contest’s progress:

• Twitter hash tag: #designchallenge
  
• Facebook page: deskeng.com/facebook
 

DE Design Challenge is Brought to You by:

Toy images courtesy of Brando Workshop.