U of S Quarter Scale Sled Dogs Tractor Team finishes in Top Five at International Competition

Congratulations to the University of Saskatchewan Sled Dogs ¼ Scale Tractor Team! The team placed 4th overall in a field of over 20 competitors at this year’s American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers (ASABE) ¼ Scale Tractor Student Design Competition in Peoria, IL , last week, an improvement from its performance last year.  The Sled Dogs won awards for Best Manufacturability, Best Appearance, Best Craftsmanship, and Best for Safety Consideration. Québec’s Université Laval and University of Manitoba were the other Canadian teams in attendance.

Left to right:
Dr. Scott Noble (Faculty Advisor), Allison Graham, Tyrone Keep, Dallas Nelson, Brian Gould, Stacey Braun, Zack Martin (Captain), Joel McDonald, Shawn Turner, Tyler Keet, Stephan Kopchynski, Dr. Terry Fonstad (Faculty Advisor)

“The team’s performance is phenomenal,” says Dr. Terrance Fonstad, one of the faculty advisors to the ¼ scale team. “They made improvements to last year’s design and it proved to be successful.”

Dr. Fonstad credits the success to a great group of engineering students, hard work, long hours and, to some extent, and the addition of ¼ scale design components to the 4th year design class. “The students registered in the class had some scheduled time dedicated to the project and each student was responsible for a portion of the unit,” he says. “Additionally, they provided mentorship for the younger team members.”

This is the ninth year that the Sled Dogs have competed in the American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers (ASABE) ¼ Scale Tractor Student Design Competition. The competition is known to provide university students with a “360-degree” design experience, in which teams must build a tractor from the ground up, documenting their market research, testing and development. Tractors are judged on maneuverability, performance, serviceability and other key design aspects. Competition judges are representatives of several major North American agricultural machinery manufactures.

For more information, please visit http://www.asabe.org/students/tractor/asaecomp.html

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