Spark High School Competition Guidelines: Syringe Hydraulic Arm
Constraints
• Must be built prior to Spark.
• No alterations may be placed on the hydraulic arm once at Spark.
• Only one hydraulic arm per team may be built and used for all the challenges.
• The base of the arm must be stationary.
• Should perform three functions:
1. Arm should rotate about its base.
2. Arm should bend so hand can move up and down.
3. Hand/Claw should be able to pick up and let go of items.
• Maximum of two team members allowed to operate the arm at one time.
• Maximum of five members per team is allowed.
• Team members cannot touch the arm while competing.
• Plastic syringes and plastic tubing must be used.
• Syringes must be incorporated in order to use hydraulics as power for moving the arm and
gripping objects.
• A separate set of syringes should use plastic tubing to connect to the syringes moving the arm.
• Adhesive material is not allowed as a means to pick up objects (e.g. glue, tape, etc).
• Magnets are not allowed.
• Liquids may be used inside the syringes and connected plastic tubing.
• Using prebuilt kits or hazardous material (i.e. fire, electricity) is not allowed.
• The arm and the base should be able to fit inside a 1 meter x 1 meter square.
• The arm and the base together should be no higher than 1 meter.
• The arm should not extend beyond 1 meter.
Challenge
All performances will be timed. All objects will be placed a foot away from the base of the arm. Start
positions of arm will be listed to ensure fairness.
1. Place different shaped objects into designated cups. (2 minutes)
 Objects include: ping pong ball (standard 40 mm diameter), empty soda can (standard 12 fl.
oz. can), and a wooden block (1 in x 1 in).
 Objects will be placed in a predetermined spot.
 Objects will be placed one foot away from the designated cup.
 At the start of the round, arm will be positioned towards the ping pong ball with the claw
directly above the ball.
 In the event that an object is picked up and not dropped into the designated cup, the object
will be placed back into its predetermined spot. Multiple attempts are allowed as long as
specified time is not reached.
 Only objects placed into the designated cup will be counted.
2. Place soda cans over a wall. (2 minutes)
 At the start of the round, arm will be positioned towards the first can with the claw directly
above the first can.
 The arm must reach down, pick up the soda can, bring the soda can over the 20 cm tall wall
of poster board, and place the soda can on the marked area.
 First part of this round is done with an empty soda can, the second part is done with a soda
can half filled with sand.

The first soda can will be on one side of the wall, and the second soda can will be on the
other side of the wall, which is next to the marked area the first soda can needs to be at.
3. Stack as much wooden blocks (1 in x 1 in) possible within the specified time frame. (3 minutes)
 In the start of the round, arm will be positioned towards the wooden block with the claw
directly above the wooden block.
 Another wooden block will be placed in the predetermined spot after each block is stacked.
 Scoring: Only the height of the stacked wooden blocks will be scored.
 The stacked wooden blocks must be structurally sound for at least 3 seconds to be scored.
 If the stacked wood blocks tips over, the highest structurally sound height obtained by the
team will still be counted (e.g. if 5 blocks were stacked vertically without tipping for at least
3 seconds, the 5 blocks will be scored despite tipping when attempting to stack 6 blocks).
 In the event of a tie, the team who accomplished all the tasks within the shortest time will
be declared the winner.
Scoring will be based off of task completion, time, and efficiency. Style Points will be scored for a
separate prize!