From launching ping-pong balls to designing water-powered racetracks, K-State Fountain Wars helps students develop real-world engineering skills.
Engineering innovation can happen anywhere — even in a kiddie pool.
Fountain Wars challenges college students to think creatively and construct a water-powered fountain that meets the competition’s theme and structure requirements.
“It’s not like an actual fountain you see at a park,” said K-State Fountain Wars president Riley Smart. “You build a mechanism that’s water powered to complete different tasks, and then you also want it to be aesthetically pleasing and match the theme.”
This year’s theme was Indy 500, an automobile race. K-State’s five-person team was instructed to create a water-driven racetrack to move an object of their choice along a track with at least three turns and elevation changes.
Teams are scored on velocity, engineering ambition, time and track length.
Going for the repeat
Depending on the outcome of this year’s Indianapolis Fountain Wars competition, K-State could bring home a second consecutive championship.
Last year, the objective was to build a mechanism that launches projectiles into a bucket 15 feet away. Rather than shoot one object at a time, K-State thought outside the box and elected to launch all the ping-pong balls at once.
While risky, the initiative was a roaring success. Even more impressive, the team built its contraption with only recycled and borrowed materials to stay under budget.
The K-State Fountain Wars team is small but mighty. The group size builds tight connections and a smooth blending of talents. Each member of the team holds a lot of responsibility, which encourages greater focus and learning.
One competition at a time, K-State Fountain Wars members are preparing themselves for a promising engineering future.
By Kate Ellwood
Curated from High-stakes engineering in a kiddie pool