By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria’s Exposition Gardens Fairgrounds played host to the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ (ASABE) International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition May 31-June 3.

The annual contest, which takes place in the fairgrounds’ show barn, is unique among student engineering design contests in that it provides a realistic 360-degree workplace.

Teams of students are given a 31-hp Briggs and Stratton engine and a set of Titan tires, but the design of the tractor is up to them. A panel of industry experts then judge each design for innovation, manufacturability, serviceability, safety, sound level and ergonomics.

Teams submit a written design report in advance of the competition, and they must “sell” their design during a formal presentation to the industry experts. The machines were put to the test in three performance events, including tractor pulls, a maneuverability course and a durability course, over the course of the three-day event.

Student teams were in attendance from the University of Illinois, University of Nebraska and many other U.S. colleges and universities. In addition, international teams, including one from Israel, were present, said Curt Thoreson, a John Deere product engineer who coordinated the 2018 competition for ASABE.

“We have 28 teams competing this year. While most teams are from North America and the upper Midwest – Illinois, Iowa State, North Dakota State, Wisconsin – we’ve also got schools from Israel, Canada, California, Alabama and Florida,” said Thoreson, noting the Israeli team had to arrive earlier than other competitors and reassemble their quarter-scale tractor after removing it from packing crates.

“It is a much bigger challenge for a team like that. Not only do they have the language gap, because English is the language this competition operates under, they have to have their project done earlier than everyone else.

“They have to ship their tractor through Customs, show up, pull it out of a shipping crate and put it together. Also, they are a newer team with probably not as much experience as others. It’s a testament to their endurance,” he explained.

Wherever their origin, the participants usually share a primary background in agricultural engineering studies, mechanical engineering or computer sciences. “A lot of kids with farming backgrounds might enjoy this kind of hands-on work, the wrenching,” said Thoreson, “and there are also students with a variety of other backgrounds.

“Sometimes they are totally unrelated; when I competed, we had a few pharmacy majors. You will also get students from marketing or accounting and other business disciplines contributing to some of the best, most well-rounded teams.”

Students gain practical experience in the design of drivetrain systems, tractor performance, manufacturing processes, analysis of tractive forces, weight transfer and strength of materials. Through the competition’s formal presentation aspect, they are also strengthening “soft” skills such as communication, leadership and teamwork while gaining experience in fundraising, testing and development.

“The students routinely amaze us through their creativity and how they adapt to the challenges we throw at them,” said Thoreson, who contributes to large equipment design at Deere’s Waterloo, Iowa, production facility.

On the Wednesday prior to the competition’s opening day, he and about a dozen or so fellow volunteers on the event’s steering committee were busy preparing the show barn for the skid pull, skills courses and other aspects of the event’s performance component.

They traveled from their homes throughout Illinois, Iowa and Michigan to push dirt with steer skids, drill speed bumps into hard-packed earth using air guns and 10-inch screws or direct arriving teams to makeshift staging areas set up in unused barns. Taking a break from his work, Thoreson said the performance aspect of competition is where everyone’s hard work is collectively showcased.

“You’ve got your standard tractor pull, which we run on Sunday, and it’s just like what you’d see at an NTPA or other tractor pulls. We’ve got other performance categories that showcase maybe more than just raw pulling power, such as the durability event,” he said.

“They have to pull through a sand pit and a bump course to hit as many laps as they can in the allotted time. This shows who has the most durable machine that holds together the best while delivering the draft load.”

The maneuverability aspect of the competition reveals which machine can operate under tight conditions in the most efficient manner. Taken together, the elements of the performance component offer the best analysis and testing of the durability of the tractors.

The International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition is a popular recruiting event for its corporate sponsors. Human resource personnel from sponsors such as Deere, AGCO, Briggs and Stratton, Case IH, Danfoss, New Holland Agriculture, Caterpillar, Inc. and other high-profile employers often scout the event for high-achieving prospects with strong technical, communication and leadership skills.

“The level of innovation among these teams is quite high, and some of the technical things they learn putting together these tractors have serious application to industry,” said Thoreson, who did his undergraduate work at South Dakota State University before receiving his master’s degree in engineering at Iowa State University.

“If I was a company, some of these participants would be pretty high on my recruiting list. As a participant, this is something that, on your résumé, can be a huge boost for your career.”