VTXCADS will an online CADathon for any interested students with any level of experience with CAD. A CADathon (similar to a hackathon) is an educational, project-based CAD (Computer Aided Design) competition.
Teams will be given certain themes or guidelines, and design a robot or structure in CAD that adhere to those guidelines. Then, at the end, teams will present their final projects to a panel of notable judges, who will judge them based on their project, presentation, and teamwork. Throughout the course of the CADathon, there will also be educational presentations and workshops to learn about different methods and applications of CAD, hosted by outside speakers such as industry professionals and company representatives. This event is set to run in mid-to-late August, following FTC’s MTI event. We are currently looking for mentors, judges, and sponsors, so please contact vtxcads@3.96.147.230 if interested!
Fill out this sign-up form to attend as a participant: https://forms.gle/TXcRoMVdnXPvfHP66
Follow our Instagram: @vtxcads
CADathon Structure
Teams:
Participants will be divided into teams of 1-4 people. If any participants indicate that they would like to be placed on a larger team, we will do our best to match them with a team based on their experience and interests.
Mentors:
Mentors will be different volunteers experienced in CAD who will be available at different times to give help and feedback to teams through Discord, although communications are not necessarily restricted to Discord.
Communication:
Discord Server (all are free to join!): https://discord.gg/KvK3nMhdyv
When projects are due, teams will be able to submit their projects and presentations for peer and audience review. This is intended to allow for support and feedback from many different people. Those who give feedback are encouraged to be supportive.
Novice Division:
This division will be for anyone who has little to no prior background knowledge in using CAD to design. Through various workshops given by industry professionals throughout the CADathon, novice participants will be given opportunities to learn about CAD and gain the skills to create basic designs. Participants in the novice division are more free to focus on their creativity and experiment with different functionalities in CAD! Judges will more heavily weigh personal growth and vision over complexity or functionality of designs.
Advanced Division:
This division (split into FTC and FRC) will be intended for any students with more prior background knowledge using CAD to create and design. Advanced participants may still have a chance to explore workshops meaningful to them, about different topics involving CAD, such as its applications in art and industry. (These workshops will still be intended to be accessible to novice participants as well!)