Project Proposal
From: EPICS Soap Box Derby Challenger Division To: Greater Lafayette Soap Box Derby Challenger Division September 2007
Team Organization Chart:
Team Leaders: Stephanie Johnston and Austin Ortiz Project Leaders: Alex Ward and Jeremy Ross Liaison with Project Partner: Sarah Lambert Physical Resource Manager: Michael Kreuzman Lab Key Keeper: Michael Kreuzman Team Webmaster: Cassy Springer ESAC: Robert Shipley Financial Officer: Michael Bergman Manager of Intellectual Property: Daniel Reyna
Budget:
During the design phase in the first semester, we do not expect to spend more than $100 for supplies such as engineering paper and DVDs that will aid in our design process. Starting in the spring semester we will be starting the building process and we have estimated a cost of about $1,500 per car, plus an extra $1,000 for extra building supplies, which makes total of $4,000 for the spring semester.
Project Charter:
Description: Our Soap Box Derby Challenger EPICS team will be designing and building soap box derby cars for children with special needs. We want to supply the Greater Lafayette Soap Box Derby, Challenger Division with two specially equipped cars for the races in 2008 that will allow children with special needs to ride in the front seat of the car. Once the first two derbies for the Lafayette organization are completed, we would like to develop a standard design that will be able to be produced and sold nation-wide in kits. It will be an affordable, easy to assemble car, so individual families and small local organizations can purchase them and easily put them together. Our overall mission is to increase the confidence and self-esteem of children with disabilities while also encouraging their participation in soap box races with their peers.
Objectives and Outcomes: For the first two semesters (2007-2008):
Goals: Define who our project partner is and analyze their needs. Create a call-out poster to recruit new members to our team. Outcome/Deliverables: Our charter and project proposal. A poster that will be used this semester and edited next year. Brainstorming ideas written in notebooks, graphing paper, or CAD. Purchase and build a kit car to increase understanding. A detailed design or two done in CAD or my hand that will be used to build the cars in the spring semester of 2008. Two or more derbies that will seat a child with special needs in the front and a driver in the back, will include a feedback steering system, and can accommodate the various needs of the children. One to two people will be in charge of promoting our team to encourage the help of possible sponsors. Our team's website will be made well and have current information. A system that will give a child with disabilities the feeling that he/she is really driving the car.
1) 2) 3)
Research and generate design ideas.
4)
Create final design(s) that meets our project partner’s needs.
5)
Build at least two cars that the local Lafayette Soap Box Challenger Division can race with that will replace their old cars. Aid the Purdue Administration to develop sponsorship for our team. Create and maintain a team SOAP website. We will develop a feedback system for the child with special needs.
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For the fall of 2008 and beyond:
1)
Finalize engineering drawings.
New computerized designs that will be applied to creating a standard, affordable kit. This will include designs and prototypes. Our goal in mind here is mainly to help more families get involved by making a kit that is more accessible in terms of funds and assembly. We will also establish cost targets. If the Nationals encourage our standard design for a kit for the Challenger Division, our vision is to help standardize the race.
2)
Create an affordable and easy to build car kit for the Super Kids Classic that can be sold nation-wide.
3)
Give the Super Kids Classic an opportunity to become a more standardized race with the production of our kit.
4) 5) 6)
Make a manual to place with the kit. Continue to mature sponsor relationships and develop new opportunities. Continue keeping the team's website up to date.
Includes assembly instructions and a help guide incase something goes amiss. Continued promotion among sponsorships. Team's website will have current information.
Community Partners: Our main attention this year will be on the Lafayette Soap Box Derby, Challenger Division. This organization is represented by Dr. Burns and Dan Altepeter, who will be our main project partners in the Lafayette area. Our public relations representative is Julie Shaw, who participates in the Challenger Division with her son, Dylan. For this school year (07-08), our focus will be supplying two newly designed soap box derby cars for this local Lafayette organization that will completely replace two broken cars that they currently have. Therefore, this Lafayette group, including the children, families, and volunteers, will be the main beneficiary after these first two semesters when they receive new challenger derbies. After this local project is completed, the EPICS Soap Box team will focus on building a standard soap box derby car for the challenger division. It should be able to be manufactured and should be affordable for families as well as small soap box organizations, as well as easy to assemble by families. Other soap box derby challenger organizations nation-wide will be affected if this project is completed correctly. More local organizations will be born, current races will expand, and the National Super Kids Classic will grow because a standard, low cost, easy to build car will encourage the participation of special needs children around the nation.
Stakeholders: The participants, or specifically, children with special needs that take part in the local and national races are our main focus as we design and build our soap box derbies. We need to accommodate the various needs of children interested in the program so that most will have the opportunity to race. Our team also hopes to help integrate the participants with other children to increase their confidence and self-esteem by making sure that
the car runs swiftly and looks appealing to the children, while keeping safety as our main concern. Families and small organizations involved will be directly affected by our team’s efforts. We will make sure that every safety precaution is taken into account in the design of the car to ensure the protection of the child to gain the trust of those using our cars. When we begin designing a kit that can be sold nation-wide, our intent is to make the kit so that will be affordable for families or small groups to buy. The Greater Lafayette Soap Box Derby organization will be affected immediately by our actions since we will be working directly with this organization to build our first two cars. By the spring they will have two new soap box derbies to race with locally and nationally. The National Super Kids Classic will hopefully benefit from our efforts as we begin to build a soap box derby challenger kit by enabling more families and local organizations to get involved in the race, which will increase knowledge and participation in the national event. Purdue University will be directly represented by our EPICS team. The university does not want to be liable for faulty soap box cars, so we will need to put in the extra effort of making sure the cars are stable.
General goals and timeline for semester:
September Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 October Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 November Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 December Week 15 Week 16
Tasks Investigate Sponsors (Prelim.) Acquire Car Look at 'regular' car Research (interview etc.) Preliminary Sketches Finalize Sketch
CAD Designs Final Designs Work On Report Poster for Callout Mid-semester Progress Update Design Project Review Design Presentation Final Presentation