Materials and Equipment
You are limited to the following list of materials to build your machine. Each item has a maximum quantity allowed per team (teams can be a single individual or multiple people). The colors of the materials don’t matter. Suggested buying links are given below. However, you can purchase them from any place as long as the items are their required sizes.
Material cost: Estimate ($20)
Popsicle sticks (~$5): Amazon Link
16 oz paper or plastic cups (~$7): Link
6 mm & 10mm plastic spheres (~$7): Amazon Link
| Material | Maximum Quantity |
| 16 oz paper or plastic cups | 10 |
| Popsicle sticks (approx. 4.5 inch or 11.5 cm) | 50 |
| 8.5×11 inch sheets of printer paper | 20 |
| Piece of corrugated cardboard to use as a base, up to 2 ft by 2 ft | 1 |
| Roll of Scotch® tape | 1 |
| Bottle of craft glue | 1 |
In addition to the building materials, you will also need the following materials for testing your machine.
| Material | Quantity | Note |
| 16 oz plastic cups | 3 | 1 to hold the initial mix of spheres, 2 to collect the sorted spheres. |
| 6 mm plastic spheres | 25 | These represent the “gems” in your operation. |
| 10 mm plastic spheres | 25 | These represent the “rocks” in your operation. |
| Stopwatch | 1 | Used for timing the test run. |