Optimize

Log every build: the mass of each key part, the geometry, the load it held, and how it failed. The log calculates the score for you and charts your progress.

Your log is saved in this browser. Copy it as CSV to back it up or paste it into a spreadsheet.

Your best score, from this log and the tests your coach logs for you, goes on your group's Team leaderboard on the course home.

How to optimize

1. Get a baseline that holds 15 kg. It's fine if it's heavy. You need one design you understand.
2. Change one thing per build. If you change the braces and the tension sticks at the same time and it breaks, you won't know why.
3. Remove mass from what didn't break. Lighter braces, thinner tension sticks, less glue. Step down in small amounts.
4. Add mass where it broke first, then step down again elsewhere.
5. Stop just above the edge, then check it. When a lighter version fails before 15 kg, go back toward the stronger design. Build and test more than one copy: wood and glue joints vary, so pick a design that has held 15 kg more than once.

Check these before you walk into the event. Once check-in starts, you can't alter the structure or get outside help (rule 4.b).

Event supervisors can ask about your design and how it works (rule 2.c). Make sure you can explain the ideas in this lab.