SME, Stratasys Name 2017 SkillsUSA Competition Winners

SME and Stratasys. announced the winners of a co-sponsored student additive manufacturing competition held during the 53^rd annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.

Now in its third year, the 2017 Additive Manufacturing Competition consisted of 34 high school and post-secondary student teams competing for a chance to take home gold, silver or bronze medals, as well as scholarships from the SME Education Foundation, and a MakerBot Mini printer. The Additive Manufacturing Competition was created to stimulate student learning of additive manufacturing and 3D printing techniques.

The 2017 Additive Manufacturing Competition involved designing and printing a track piece (fixture) capable of moving a marble to a designated location after the ball rolls down a ramp. The fixture was required to connect with the ramp at specific points and remain stable for the test’s duration. Each team was provided time to design the fixture, build the 3D printed prototype on a Stratasys 3D printer and make any necessary design modifications the next day.

Contestants also participated in a mini-challenge, which required them to fix broken issues within an STL file. After completing the design process, participants later presented findings to a panel of professionals in the additive manufacturing field. Presentations included full analysis of how the design and re-design process was managed.

More than 16,000 people, including students, teachers and business partners, participated in events at the SkillsUSA national conference, highlighting the capabilities of career and technical education students in their respective fields.

2017 winners of the SME/Stratasys SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition are highlighted in the table as follows.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.