www.skillsusa.org
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Newspaper article from Escanaba, Michigan

Newspaper article from Alexandria, Minnesota

News release from CCC Columbus, Nebraska

Team USA announced

Contacts

WorldSkills Liaison: Dan Blanck

Technical committee Chairperson for Mechatronics: Daniel Sandoval

2004 competition

Festo Didactic sponsored the fourth annual SkillsUSA National Mechatronics Competition.  The competition was held in Kansas City, Missouri, from June 25-27, 2002.

Mechatronics is defined as the combination of mechanics, electronics, Control and Information Technology to design and realize intelligent products, processes and systems. It has been described as Mechanical Engineering for the 21st Century.

Mechatronics is also viewed as a way of thinking or method and not as a technology. It involves an interdisciplinary effort towards problem solving.

An overview of the Mechatronics competition floor

Contestants at the Mechatronics commissioning exercise

Competition floor at the start of the event

Judges confer during event

..and the winners are: bronze, silver, gold!

In order to participate in the national competition, a student must have won the competition at a state level.

There were four parts to the competition:

• Students were presented with a Mechatronics problem in which they had to design and build an electropneumatic circuit.
• Students were given a piece of equipment that needed to be commissioned. They had to connect it to air and electrical supplies and then find the problems.
• An oral interview which tested their knowledge of ISO symbology and pneumatic theory.
• A written test to evaluate their knowledge of fluid power and mechanical principles.
  

The winners of the 2002 Competition were:

Secondary:

Gold - Matt Lindemann, Alexandria Tech College, Alexandria, Minnesota
Silver - Derek Ladd, Vantage Vocational School, Van Wert, Ohio
Bronze - John Qualls, St Clair Tech, Port Huron, Michigan

Post-Secondary:

Gold - Allen Stenzel, Central Community College, Columbus, Nebraska
Silver - Brad Cihlar, Alexandria Tech College, Alexandria, Minnesota
Bronze - Casey Calouette, Bay De Noc Community College, Escanaba, Michigan

Two winners from this year's competition are eligible to go to the International Skills Olympics to be held June 23-26, 2003 in Saint Gallen, Switzerland. This represents the first time that a team from the United States will participate in this worldwide event.

NEWS FLASH! - Team USA announced - click here