Physna is hosting a nationwide 3D design challenge for engineering students on our advanced geometric search platform, Thangs. The intention of the competition is to support engineering talent across the country and expose students to advanced technologies of geometric search and smart collaborative tools and help them unleash their pure potential.
Students will compete to solve a problem using 3D design on the Thangs platform. There is no fee to participate in the competition, and there is no minimum experience level required. Winners will be awarded cash prizes ranging from $500 to $10,000.
Design Challenge Concept: Create an innovative design model from the over million parts available on Thangs. Our platform offers participants the ability to identify parts and the different parts used to create their designed model and thus, provide a true geometric search engagement experience.
Challenge Focus: The competition is primarily focused on three parts:
(1) Geometric search: Find similar models, models containing the designed model, and models inside of your designed model using Thangs’ advanced geometric search abilities
(2) Smart collaboration: Create private folders for your team to collaborate over the models
(3) Geometric relationships: Recognize geometric relationships between parts that illustrate power of Thangs tools of automation version and revision control work
Structure of Challenge:
The competition will be held in three stages:
Stage 1: Registration
Timeline: September 20 – October 21
To register, students simply need to go to Thangs.com and create a free account to enter the challenge. Since students benefit from higher participation within their university, we encourage universities to notify their students about Thangs Design Challenge 2020. Thangs will provide support to any university requesting help in this regard.
Step 2: University-Level Competition
Timeline: October 14 - October 21
Design phase:
The student teams will create an account on Thangs and will be able to utilize the smart collaboration features available on the platform by creating a private folder to keep their designs private during the one-week period. Students can, and are encouraged to, utilize within their designs any parts they can find publicly available on Thangs (whether through geometric search or text search). There is no minimum experience level, and the solution can be as simple or complex as the participants would like.
Process of the Challenge: Step 1: Create an account on Thangs – this step automatically registers students for the competition Step 2: Explore the features available on Thangs – geometric search, smart private collaborative folders to store and share models and their revisions, free unlimited storage, and so many more Step 3: Design your model: Use any of the over million indexed models available on Thangs to design your model Step 4: Private Smart Folders: Collaborate with teammates (if participating in a team), and store, save revisions, and polish your models in your own private smart folder Step 5: Publish final model: Release your final model on Thangs platform using hashtag of your school, team name, and challenge name (Ex: #CarnegieMellon #ConceptLab #ThangsDesignChallenge2020)
Example: Imagining that a team is designing a Ninja, they could use the blades of the rotor of a quadcopter uploaded on Thangs to build the sword of a ninja. While they can also use feet of a human body uploaded on Thangs to design the ninja's feet. It entirely depends upon how creative participants get with their model. Students are encouraged to use as many models as possible form the Thangs database to design their model and show their creativity.
Evaluation phase:
Students must release their models publicly on Thangs on 21st October. The evaluation phase extends from Oct 22nd – Oct 23rd.
1. Teams upload their final models with the hashtags in the description
2. Thangs community are directed to the page with models of participants
3. Thangs users hit the “like” button on as many models as they wish to cast their votes
In the event of a tie, a judge from Thangs will review which participants best utilized the models and capabilities available on Thangs, as well those who incorporated a greater number of models indexed on Thangs in their submitted models. The winning team of the university-level competition would be awarded cash prizes of $500. Additionally, if a university has 100 or more participants, they will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize.
About Us:
Physna is a Cincinnati-based tech startup that creates technology to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Physna’s powerful core technology unlocks new opportunities for engineers, industrial designers, hobbyists, and procurement professionals by codifying 3D models into detailed data.
Physna recently launched Thangs, which is the world's first geometric search engine for 3D models. What Google has achieved in indexing 2D data with text and images, Thangs will achieve a similar feat with physical objects and 3D models. Thangs allows users to find parts based on their potential relationship to other parts in the database. It finds 3D models quickly, identifies them accurately, understands relationships between models and components, and makes your own 3D models smarter.
Find Thangs. Share Thangs. Build Thangs. Together.
