Over on Instructables there’s a student design challenge featuring the 5m Dar Smart Bridge.
It’s called “Make It Bridge”, and the idea is that contestants – who have to be students aged between 13 and 21 and based in the USA or Canada (excluding Quebec, for some reason) – can place the geometry of the Dar bridge, or another bridge of their choosing, in surroundings to which it adds value. It sounds like a lot of fun.
I like the guidance given:
In choosing the site for the bridge, you might consider what it would look like from below and from a distance, how it would feel to cross it, and what it could offer to the spaces or even nature beneath it. You might also consider how it could be embedded with technology like sensors that could collect data which might be used to gain new insights and understanding.
The good news for those of us who are ineligible – whether due to age, location or employment status – is that we can use the challenge to download the geometry of this very cool bridge.
You can basically get it either by opening the Tinkercad model and then clicking on the Fusion 360 model link or by clicking this link directly. ;-)
When the Fusion Team viewer has loaded you can use it to download the bridge model in the 3D format of your choice.
Here it is loaded inside AutoCAD, for instance:
Please do go ahead and spread the word about this interesting opportunity to eligible participants – it could be worth a scholarship of $10,000 to them!