360Rize 360Penguin at the Dream It Do It 500

360Rize 360Penguin at the DIDI 500

On Saturday, November 3rd, 360Rize was at St.Bonaventure University’s Richter Center for the seventh annual Dream It Do It 500. This event hosts over 200 students from around the area. These students, all with an interest in engineering and manufacturing, would have their skills put to the test.

The Dream It Do It 500

The DIDI 500 competition came to be in 2012, when members of St. Bonaventure’s ENACTUS Club created it. The competition exists to give students an introduction to the world of manufacturing through real-life simulations. This growing event now welcomes an impressive eight local school districts. Local businesses lend a hand financially and include Dresser-Rand, CUTCO, Napolean Engineering, SolEpoxy, as well as several others. The DIDI 500 presents students with an environment that is fun and engaging.

Mission Objective

The challenge lying ahead was to build a rubber band powered car. Although it sounds simple, students had a limited amount of time and supplies. This cardboard car had one mission in mind, to travel as far and as straight as possible. On top of designing a car from scratch, students had to plan for unexpected challenges. For example, in the middle of the assembly, teachers told students to stop talking or do jumping jacks. The purpose of this was to simulate a real working environment.

Surprise design requirements, given the day of the event, made students rethink their design. These sudden design requirements included having to outfit their cars with a method of picking up packing peanuts. A challenge like this ensures students cannot prepare in advance, thus putting more pressure on them to problem solve. Employing kids to problem solve is exactly what DIDI 500 aims to accomplish. Speaking of aims, the next aim for the students was marketing their cars. To do this, students had to create a commercial detailing why their design should be purchased.

360Penguin in attendance

We here at 360Rize have a history of attending Dream It Do It events. Therefore, when we heard about the DIDI 500 we made sure to attend. And attend we did, bringing our newly released 360Penguin and a considerable amount of filming equipment. We had penguins mounted everywhere! We also had the privilege of speaking briefly with the students, as well as teachers, about our new camera.

The DIDI 500 was yet another fantastic event put on by Dream It Do It.