This just in from our sister blog, Experience This!

A victory in the autocross race and solid performances in the endurance competition helped propel Missouri S&T's Formula SAE Team to its third top-10 finish in five years in the annual Formula SAE international competition, held May 15-17 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

Congratulations to the Formula SAE Team for another fine finish. Visit the Experience This! student design blog for more news about the Formula SAE event and Missouri S&T's performance.

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At Mindy's instigation, S&T videographer extraordinaire Tom Shipley created a 29-second video of Missouri S&T's bullet bike and entered it into KansasCity.com's 29-second Film Festival. (The festival is in honor of today, Leap Day, Feb. 29.) Have a look and if you like what you see, feel free to leave your five-star rating (and comments) on the site. You can always comment here, too, of course.

And if you've got five minutes to spare, check out the longer version of Tom's bullet bike video, filmed on location in the Nevada desert.

(Cross-posted at Experience This!)

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There is an interesting drama unfolding over at Experience This! The world famous UMR/Missouri S&T solar car has been on a long, strange trip (in the back of a truck, mostly) through the south this week. The next stop is Graceland.

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Halloween is over, and it's time to chuck those pumpkins...and UMR students were literally chucking pumpkins (albeit small ones) last night out at the UMR soccer field. Using various contraptions that ranged from catapults to mechanized boots, the students tried to launch the pumpkins into several circles painted on the grass. Teams with the most accuracy and power competed for the first annual UMR pumpkin chucking championship. (If anyone knows who the winners were, leave us their names in the comments.) The students who participated are all enrolled in Engineering 111, an experiential design class.

We would be remiss if we didn't mention that this whole pumpkin chucking thing reminds us of the time Chris on Northern Exposure got the idea (from a Monty Python movie) to build a huge catapult in order to fling a cow. (He ended up flinging a piano.)

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Jerrod Bouchard, a senior at the University of Missouri-Rolla, may teach us a thing or two about how to go fast this week. Jerrod and his crew are in Battle Mountain, Nev., this week attempting to shatter the collegiate human-powered land speed record. Keep up with the team -- video, photos, posts -- at experiencethis.mst.edu.

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Jerrod Bourchard and his crew discuss their plans to break the collegiate human land speed record.

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It's been a while since we've scoured our blogroll to see what's going on in the world of science, technology and education beyond the virtual borders of the Visions blog. Turns out there's some interesting stuff out there. Here are five:

• Lame. Very Lame. Worst James Bond gadgets ever. Sometimes even the best innovators -- like Bond's pal Q -- miss the mark. Remember radioactive lint or the revolving sofa that swallows whoever sits on it? Link via Wired's Gadget Lab.

• Our favorite science librarian (outside of UMR, of course) concludes a thoughtful, occasional series of posts about the future of library science and what his job will be like in 10 years. Considering that he began this project in June 2005, I guess it's more about what his job will be like in eight years. Either way, it's an interesting exercise -- trying to envision the future -- and all of us ought to take some time to put a little thought into the future of our careers, crafts and professions.

• One of the main challenges of science writing, according to nOnoScience, is "inaccessibility to useful information." A cautionary note to my fellow PR flacks: "The primers, which may be in the form of press-releases and abstracts are not only grossly under-informative, but in most cases frustratingly teasing."

• Virtual tennis, anyone? Just in case you aren't hearing enough about Second Life, read Second Life, Second Sport, about a tennis game on the virtual courts of a virtual Wimbledon.

• Good vibrations. Future Feeder introduces the haptic clock, a program that conveys time through a sequence of vibrations. "Perfect for meetings, lazy people, and people who trying to break the addiction of pulling out their cell phone to check the time." It might also make a pretty cool gadget for James Bond.

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A team of UMR engineering students will hit the road here in a few minutes to make a nearly 2,000 mile journey to Santa Maria, Calif., to compete in NASA's Centennial Challenge. That's where the team will put its robot up against seven other entries from the United States and Canada to see which robot can excavate the most "moon dirt."

You might be asking yourselves why this group, the Lunar Miners, has decided to make the 28-hour drive and not fly. It's a good question, but one that's easily answered by looking at their robot.

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The UMR Baja Team didn't win the overall championship at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Baja East competition April 12-14 in Ocala, Fla. -- but the UMR team did win a first-place trophy for the mud bog portion of the competition. Also, you might remember that UMR's vehicle was designed to be amphibious this year.

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UMR has been winning the East Coast championship in human-powered vehicle racing for years -- five straight years to be exact. But the West Coast championship has always eluded them -- until now.

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The UMR Baja Team has been testing an amphibious vehicle in the waters of Little Prairie Lake. The team is preparing for a competition in Florida, where mud bogs and water hazards await.

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The accelerated build of UMR's newest solar home is well underway today, despite the snow flurries and rain.

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Jerrod Bouchard and Craig George will be in Boston this weekend to put the finishing touches on their assisted HPV vehicle, a recumbant bike that runs on pedaling power or solar power. The UMR students started working on the project last summer at the MIT Design Summit. Now, their vehicle -- which is capable of doing 70 mph -- will be showcased at the SolidWorks World Conference coming up in February.

Meanwhile, a mini-documentary on the Design Summit will be rebroadcast Jan. 10 on Discovery HD. Oh yeah, and Jerrod and Craig are also making plans to break the collegiate HPV speed record this year. To do that, they are building a separate vehicle that will need to be capable of going 62 mph with only human power.

In addition to the bike built for record breaking, the UMR HPV team -- which is only about the best HPV team ever -- is building a yet another bike for this year's competitions against other college teams.

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We have it on good authority that the four UMR students who participated in the MIT Vehicle Design Summit last summer showed up the competition. Any readers with HDTV who subscribes to Discovery HD Theatre can find out for themselves just how the UMR contingent fared at the event. The network is airing MIT Design Summit tonight (10 p.m. Eastern), so if you want to catch some UMR design team students in action, here's your chance.

Four UMR design team members – Navarre Bartz, Jerrod Bouchard, Craig George and Andrew Sourk – were among the 50 engineering students to participate in the summit last summer. The students presented four energy-efficient vehicles they hope will save the world from today’s polluting cars. Earlier this year, Bouchard was profiled in an earlier news story about the event.

If you can’t catch the MIT Design Summit tonight, you'll have other chances tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 30) or Dec. 3. Check the schedule for showtimes.

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UMR's concrete teams won the hearts and minds -- in the form of votes -- of attendees at the American Concrete Institute's fall convention in Denver Sunday. They also capture the judges' attention, garnering nine awards overall in the student design competitions. Or, as team leader Justin Carr tells it, the UMR teams just "smoked the competition."

“We took first and second with indented specimens that were wavy and black,” Carr explains. “Our aesthetic cylinders looked like they were made of black plastic, not concrete, which impressed many.”

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UMR students will use acid -- and a little magnesium -- to "turn on" their car in the upcoming American Institute of Chemical Engineers's Chem-E Car national competition.

The UMR Chem-E Car team earned a spot in the San Francisco competition by placing second in the regional chemical reaction-powered, autonomous vehicle competition last April. The competition challenges teams to design and build a shoebox-sized car that can carry an additional load a specified distance. The actual distance and load requirements will be announced 20 minutes before the beginning of the national competition.

Team leader Dan Burtman of Blue Springs, Mo., a junior in chemical engineering, says the group is very hopeful about its upcoming performance.

If nothing else, the team will be in for one great trip.

OT: I'd like to say "Happy Birthday" to Visions blogger, Andrew Careaga, who turned 46 today. I think I promised him that I wouldn't post his Halloween photo on Visions and I won't do that, especially since he's my boss. But I will link to it.

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The Formula SAE team may get credit for building the fastest car on campus, but they're not the only mechanics or videographers at UMR.

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No, he's not driving slow in a driveway. But he is still an excellent driver.

Look familiar? It's UMR's 1998 Formula SAE car, complete with new giant test wings for low speed aero (still needs some fine tuning to keep the air attached to the underside at low speeds).

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A team of four graduate students from UMR recently learned that they have finished second in the report category of a national big beam contest. The big beam in question is a 16-foot section of concrete that was designed by the students and fabricated under their watch by a pre-cast manufacturer in Missouri. Loading tests were later conducted in a UMR laboratory, and all of the predictions and measurements were evaluated by contest judges. Pre-cast concrete beams are used in the construction of structures like parking garages and stadiums.

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Judges told members of UMR's 2006 SAE Formula Car Team that they had a poor design. The judges apparently didn't like the aerodynamic wings on the back of the UMR car (see the wings on UMR's 2005 car at right). Fortunately for the team, the West Coast Formula SAE contest wasn't based solely on design theory. Out on the pavement, the UMR car finished first in the endurance event, beating the nearest competition by 20 seconds of raw time. Thanks to the great showing in the endurance event, UMR finished eighth overall out of more than 70 teams.

This was the first year for the Formula West competition, which was held June 14-17 at the California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The SAE traditionally has one big competition each year near Detroit. UMR was coming off a disappointing finish in Michigan this year, so the team is pretty excited about its performance in California. Most of the members of UMR's team are mechanical and aerospace engineering majors.

We'd give you a link to SAE's official Formula West results, but the official results for these design contests are rarely available while they're still newsworthy (I've been googling all morning). If it weren't for emails from team members and for the fine folks in our student design center, we'd have to wait for the stone tablets to arrive just to find out how our UMR teams are doing in their various competitions.

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UMR's automomous robots -- the new Optical Prime and last year's Stereo Opticon -- are in Michigan this weekend, battling "brainiac" vehicles from 32 other universities, including Trixxie from Georgia Institute of Technology and Johnny 5 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition will run June 10-12 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Detroit. And while most university teams will enter four-wheel models, the UMR team is betting its three-wheel-drive vehicle will out maneuver the competition.

Orange cones are placed throughout the obstacle course. The robots must be able to differentiate colors and sizes, among other things. Team members have outfitted the UMR vehicles, which run on rechargeable batteries, with sonar and infrared sensors, stereo cameras and global positioning systems.

More about the competition is available here and here.

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UMR's mini-baja vehicle -- "Overkill" -- was in action over the weekend in Wisconsin. While many (most?) of the vehicles broke down under the stress of off-road competition, Overkill ran strong until the end. The UMR team, in its first competition as an official Student Design and Experiential Learning Center team, represented the campus well. They didn't finish among the very top teams, mainly because their vehicle was a lot heavier than the leaders, but they did learn some lessons they think they can parlay into future success. Team members are already looking forward to redesigning Overkill.

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Tim Turner of UMR's Mini Baja Team employs power tools during a break in the SAE Baja Midwest competition, which is being held this week in Wisconsin. Yesterday, the UMR team built up some good karma by helping a team from South Africa out of a jam. After spending a bunch of money to get to the states, the South African team realized its vehicle was built to last year's contest specs. UMR loaned them a welder, and they were able to make the adjustments necessary to remain in the competition, which ends this weekend.

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By day, Lowe's parking lot in Rolla is congested with fork lifts and pick-up trucks. By night, when all of the customers are gone, the lot becomes a testing ground for an Indy-style racing car that goes 0-to-60 mph in 3.2 seconds. At least, this is what happens during Formula Car season at UMR. Hopefully, all of the moonlighting the UMR team did at Lowe's this spring will serve them well at the annual Formula SAE competition, which is this week in Michigan. Last year, UMR finished ninth overall out of 140 teams. We'll post the 2006 results here as soon as they're available, if you're interested. Eventually, you might even be able to bid on UMR's No. 9 car on eBay.

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Today's Kansas City Star notes that engineering students from UMR and UMKC took the top two spots in the Human-Powered Vehicle competition in Charlotte, N.C.

Each student team designed and built a one-person, two-wheeled, pedal-powered vehicle and raced it on a drag strip and then on a 40-mile endurance course. ... The Rolla car was clocked at 42.8 mph and the UMKC car at 36 mph.

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Yes, it's sculling -- not skulling, which might have something to say about why I didn't go to Harvard or Yale. I know it's not cool to go back and fix text after it's been posted (because then there's no proof of the original screw up), but I just couldn't let this one stand. Still, feel free to make fun. Elsewhere, in human-powered vehicle racing (HPV racing for those of us who have spelling challenges), UMR finished second at the West Coast event in California. LF

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In sculling, you've got your Harvards, your Yales, your Princetons... Well, in these parts of the Midwest, you've got concrete canoe racing. And UMR has at least two rowers who can paddle with the best of them. In this heat last Saturday at Twin Lakes Recreation Area in Columbia, Mo., the UMR duo of Noah Husman and Jesse Scott dominated canoe teams from Kansas State and Arkansas. UMR finished first in the men's endurance part of the regional competition, which is sponsored annually by the American Society of Civil Engineers. As soon as we figure out the overall standings, we'll let you know where the UMR team ended up. During ASCE's regional conference in Columbia, which coincided with the concrete canoe event, a steel bridge contest was also held. The objective is to build a scale bridge that is flexible and can do all kinds of neat things from an engineering standpoint. The word on the street is that UMR had a really impressive bridge -- but there was some sort of problem with lateral loading, or something like that, which disqualified the UMR team. Finally, on a busy weekend for UMR design teams, members of the human-powered vehicle team are currently on the road back to Rolla after competing for a West Coast championship in California. Unofficial sources have UMR placing second overall in that event.

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With all of the rain across the state this past weekend, members of UMR's Concrete Canoe Team must have been thinking about what it would have taken to build an arc. Right, team members haul their canoe from the cold waters at Twin Lakes Recreation Area in Columbia, Mo. Normal concrete used in a construction project would weigh about 150 pounds per cubic foot. The necessary weight of the concrete mix used for this canoe was less than 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, which is the unit weight of water. More pics and stuff from this past weekend's concrete canoe competition in Columbia to follow...

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UMR's Chem-E Car Team grabbed a few moments of fame this morning, at least in KY3's Springfield, Mo., market area. Click here to see the car, powered by magnesium and acid, in action. Read more the project here.

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The UMR First Responder Design Team talks with TechnoFiles this month about its win over Georgia Institute of Technology and others in a helicopter design competition sponsored by the Huntsville, Ala., chapter of the American Helicopter Society. Grab the mp3 here (23.3 MB).

Like what you hear? Go ahead and subscribe directly to TechnoFiles in iTunes, Yahoo or supply the following URL to your podcast receiver: www.mst.edu/podcast/sample.rss. Or browse the episode archive and listen online at Yahoo.

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Well, UMR's radio-controlled airplane crashed on takeoff this past weekend at the Aero Design East Competition in Marietta, Ga. That was bad. The good news is that the UMR team took first place in the design portion of the contest. Approximately 50 unversity teams were in Georgia for the event. The University of Sao Paulo placed first overall.

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Making model airplanes isn't just about sniffing the glue anymore; at least not for a group of UMR students who are designing and building an advanced radio-controlled aircraft for the Aero Design East Competition April 21-23 in Marietta, Ga. UMR's plane will be capable of runway take-off speeds in excess of 30 mph and flight speeds of approximately 40 mph. This year's plane has a wing-span of eight feet, according to contest specifications, but UMR students have built much larger remote-controlled aircraft in the past. The key is to make the plane powerful enough to lift payloads of up to 50 pounds. It's also important not to crash.

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Good news today from Huntsville, Ala.

UMR's First Responder Team beat out Georgia Tech and several other universities to capture first place in a design competition sponsored by the American Helicopter Society. The team designed a high-performance, vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (a.k.a. a semi-autonomous, coaxial helicopter with two counter-rotating rotors.)

Bonus: The UMR team will receive $5,000 to design and build the vehicle.

Update: More info about the team's success here.

Thanks to Fathi Finaish for keeping us updated!

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The future of Universal's download-to-own video service is generating some buzz today (see here, here or here).

If the $35 price tag gives you sticker shock, why not check out a few of UMR's own great videos instead? Grab your popcorn and Milk Duds, get comfy and watch the real-life adventures of UMR students in:

Bonus: They're free.

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Remember that virtually indestructible coffee mug engineered by UMR students? Now you can see how it was made, courtesy of the Discovery Channel Canada. Go here to watch the feature story on ceramics engineering at UMR. We at visions think the Canadian crew did a great job -- they are an extremely fair and balanced outfit.

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Students from UMR's Residential College are engineering a float with moving parts for Saturday's St. Pat's Parade. On Friday afternoon, the students were putting the final touches on the float, which includes a flopping catfish, a life-sized horse, a candy-spewing tornado and Pecos Bill. The theme of this year's parade is Tall Tales. You can catch the float in action Saturday morning in downtown Rolla. The parade starts at 11 a.m.

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It all started almost 100 years ago, when a group of Rolla students declared St. Patrick the patron saint of engineers. This year, a group of UMR students from an Experiential Design class is renewing a St. Pat's tradition of building a parade float with moveable parts. The really cool parts of the float are a candy-spewing tornado and a flopping catfish.

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Random Play gives an update on the ASME fishing pole design competition held at UMR last weekend. The catch? The poles needed to allow quadriplegics to use their breath to accurately cast and retrieve a fishing lure without assistance, and land a “fish" on at least one cast.

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Fox News is known for its "fair and balanced" journalism, which is probably why they mentioned UMR's winning mug drop team today in an online story. The team of ceramic engineering students made a mug so tough that it "left a dent in the pavement" and crushed the competition at a national event last January. UMR's championship mug drop team will also be the subject of an upcoming Discovery Channel feature. Stay tuned.

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UMR students are savoring their Sunday-afternoon win over Auburn University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and 15 other contestants.

The first-place finish came not on the court but online, in the ASCE Geo-Institute’s Information Mining and Geotechnical Site Characterization Design competition Feb. 26.

The competition was designed to promote the optimal use of information, databases, and both analytical and numerical processing tools that are available online. Eighteen teams worldwide had four hours to investigate the failure of the levees in New Orleans, describe the problem as geotechnical engineers and develop a new design for the levee system.

"The UMR team won the $1,000 prize and each team member also received a memory stick," says team coach Ronaldo Luna. "However, the bragging rights are what the students and faculty will enjoy the most."

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