How about a challenge where the contestants must build a device for moving cargo-laden pallets? The basic design would be a forklift, but certainly there are many possibilities for both power (gasoline, human) and lifting implementation (hydraulic, lever & counterweight, pneumatic, &c.). Judge by some measure of rate (lbs. cargo/minute over a fixed distance; pallets/min over a fixed distance).

-- tBoy (tcornish@uiuc.edu), March 06, 2001