Judging Criteria

Judges will make their own decisions about how much to weight what aspects of the design. However, they will generally be guided by the following Principles:

Presentation

Were the speakers crisp and clear? Were they prepared and organized? Did they stay on time? Was the presentation well organized? Were the Power Point Slides useful? Did figures have labels and scales? Could you easily read the words on each slide?

Originality of the Concept

Was the concept new and original? Was Patent information presented to verify the concept was new and original? Was market based information presented to verify the concept was new and original?

Complete Design

Was the design complete? Could the parts be manufactured? Were protective finishes properly called out? Had manufacturing costs been considered? Could purchased parts be easily obtained from alternate sources? Was there sufficient information to support purchasing, manufacturing, receiving inspection, tooling, and final inspection? Were material choices appropriate?

Market Size and Cost Considerations

Was the market size appropriately estimated? Were costs properly considered? Did the group properly consider soft costs such as insurance, regulatory compliance, sales, marketing, general overhead, etc.?

In accord with codes/standards and design norms

Did the design appear to have considered Recognized and Generally Accepted Engineering Principles as evidenced .by Codes, Standards, Calculation Methods, etc.?

Analysis done at an acceptable level

Was analysis done at appropriate levels for a design project particularly in contrast to an analysis project?

Safety Considerations

Was it clear that safety was an important element in the design and had been integrated into the design rather than just tacked on at the end?

Drawings

Were the drawings of quality appearance and did they look complete with regard to call-outs, page layout, etc.?

Written Report

Was the written report of high quality and did the Executive Summary sufficiently outline the design?

Notebooks

Were notebooks neat, complete and have at least two full pages per class week? Did they document phone conversations, Email conversations, etc. that resulted in design decisions?

Prototype

Was the prototype well constructed to demonstrate the design?
University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Engineering Physics
Madison, Wisconsin
Revised: 12/2/2008