Eggalitarian Opportunities Pty Ltd

1 PROJECT CLIENT AND BACKGROUND

Eggalitarian Opportunities is a major vehicle manufacturing company. We are seeking partner
companies to produce a small-scale model vehicle that will be tested by simulating a frontal crash.
Candidate designs and the creation of prototypes are being sought for a new single-mousetrap-
powered vehicle that can carry a driver (modelled by a hen’s egg) and survive hitting a wall.

2 PROJECT STAGES
The project has four stages. Deadlines for each submission are specified in the EFPC course
calendar.

2.1 STAGE 1 – DESIGN

Partner companies are requested to submit a design package incorporating the following elements
for evaluation:
• Construction drawings for a physical model of the Eggalitarian vehicle.
• Construction specifications. These specifications are a supplement to the drawings and are to
facilitate construction in Stage 3. They shall include material and equipment requirements, and
the method of construction.
• Tender evaluation criteria to evaluate and compare potential bidders for the construction
stage.
• A performance/cost plan that
o Identifies and quantifies the materials used.
o Demonstrates that the vehicle was designed with the best performance and safety in
mind.

2.2 STAGE 2 – TENDERING

Partner companies are to submit tenders for allocated design packages, and then to evaluate
three tender submissions.

2.3 STAGE 3 – CONSTRUCTION

The winning tender is to build the allocated project.

2.4 STAGE 4 – TESTING

The vehicle will be tested to ensure it conforms to the requirements of this brief.
3 EGGALITARIAN VEHICLE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
All designs and subsequent models must meet the following requirements.

3.1 Dimensional Constraints

• No restrictions

3.2 Materials of Construction

There are no specific materials requirements, however Eggalitarian Opportunities prefers the use
of recycled materials as this will minimise waste and reduce costs.

3.3 Distance
It is essential that all candidate prototype designs:
• Reliably travel 4 metres before colliding with a wall.
• Be entirely self-guided and able to travel in a straight line.
• Carry a 60 g (–0, +9 g) raw hen’s egg provided by Curtin University on the testing day.
• The measurement of distance will be the perpendicular displacement from the starting line,
not the total distance travelled if the vehicle follows a curved path.

3.4 Energy Source

Energy efficiency is a hallmark of Eggalitarian’s engines and full-size vehicles. It is essential that
candidate designs uphold this company vision. The requirements are:
• The vehicle will be powered by a single proprietary Eggalitarian engine (a mousetrap) that will
be provided by Curtin University.
• No other engine, e.g. a different mousetrap or rat trap, or energy source, e.g. CO2 cartridge,
batteries, elastic strings, rubber bands, etc. is to be used.
• The standard mousetrap must be attached to the chassis.
• Hardware may be added to the mousetrap.
• The original mousetrap hardware and mounting block may ONLY be altered to attach it to the
vehicle or to reduce weight without compromising the mousetrap integrity.
• Vehicles must be activated by tripping the original mousetrap trip mechanism. They may not
receive a push to start them.
• Vehicles must be self-directing during travel. They may not receive a push from any direction
once they have been started.

3.5 Ease of Use

Ease of use is a key element of Eggalitarian’s marketing campaign. The vehicle must be:
• Easy to recharge
• Capable of being stored in the charged state.
• Easy to load with the driver just prior to testing.
3.6 Construction and Maintenance
Affordability, ease of manufacture, ease of maintenance, low weight, energy efficiency and the
use of readily available components are critical to the success of the vehicle in the marketplace.
The construction period is tight. It is essential that all materials can be sourced locally. Specialist or
expensive parts and materials are to be provided by the designer at the beginning of the
construction period.

3.7 Cost of Materials

All materials have a cost associated with them and should be included in the design and testing
plan. All designs will be judged using a performance/cost ratio.
A total material cost of:
• $20 or less is desired, though designs costing more will be accepted. Sourcing of the materials
will be the responsibility of the constructing company.
• More than $20 – in this case the excess cost will be borne by the designing company.

3.8 Egg Support

• The driver (egg) must be able to see clearly through the front of the vehicle.
• No part of the egg may be glued to any part of the car or safety device.
• No part of the safety device can extend beyond the base of the car.
 The condition of the egg must be easily determined after the crash.

4 TESTING FOR COMPLIANCE AND PERFORMANCE/COST RATIO

Compliance will be assessed during Stage 4. The testing location will be the ground floor of the
Engineering Pavilion, Building 215 unless otherwise notified.

Performance definition:
(𝐸𝑔𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟)
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 =
(𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠)
where:
1 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑔𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛
𝐸𝑔𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 = {0.5 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑔𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠
0 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑔𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑

The vehicle that has the highest performance/cost ratio and complies with the brief will be
awarded the first prize.