Freshmen from mechanical engineering classes on the Marietta campus hosted the Sixth Annual Pumpkin Launch Thursday, Oct. 27.
Every year, mechanical engineering students design and build pumpkin-loaded catapults, trebuchets or giant sling shots. The pumpkin-launchers are pitted against one another during the fall tradition.
This year, crowds of spectators gathered between classes to watch about 20 engineering teams with names like “Hash Slinging Smasher” and “The Trumpkins” compete.
Mahesh Gupta, a professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said that the event is a very important learning opportunity for freshmen.
“The competition helps freshmen learn that they can achieve their goals,” Gupta said. “When the project is assigned, it seems scary to students who don’t think they can do it, but they are always so proud of their accomplishment at the end.”
Many of the launchers managed to send the pumpkins high into the air and across the field, prompting giddy high-fives from the engineering teams. Others splattered their pumpkins directly into the ground in front of them, or malfunctioned and fell apart. At least one pumpkin was launched backward, toward the audience.
The catapults can sometimes be dangerous if built improperly, but each launcher is inspected by mechanical engineering professors before launch.
Senior mechanical engineering major John Ware is the president of Kennesaw State’s Autonomous Ground Vehicle Team. Every year that Ware has attended the event, he said, the school has taken more precautions to ensure the safety of the engineers and spectators.
“The size of the catapults, the weight of the counter-weight and the power of the launching mechanism have all been regulated,” Ware said. “The engineers still have free rein on what materials they use, but the catapult must use human power and gravity to launch the pumpkin.”
Senior engineering major Dominic Kowalke holds the pumpkin-launch record.
“In 2012, before the design regulations, my team built an electric-powered air-cannon,” Kowalke said. “It launched the pumpkin so far that the design is illegal now, so I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to break the record.”
Senior mechanical engineering major Aaron Nauert said that the event has changed, citing new safety precautions as well as the concessions and catering.
“This event is still fun, but it has gotten so fancy now,” Nauert said. “I know the safety measures are there to protect our tradition from being shut down. In a way, I feel like they killed the spirit of danger, which was always part of the fun.”
Home Depot supplied the pumpkins for the launch, and the teams’ budgets were sponsored by Marietta Nondestructive Testing.
