The 38th Odyssey of the Mind (OM) World Finals was held at Michigan State University from May 24 to 27. The Shanghai Jiao Tong University team, led by students from the University of Michigan-SJTU Joint Institute (UM-SJTU JI), emerged from 850 teams from around the world and won the world championship in the college category.

The SJTU team is coached by JI junior Junyi Xu and composed of three JI students and four students from other SJTU departments. They won the 38th OM China Final held in Shanghai in February this year and represented China to compete in the OM World Finals.

The Odyssey of the Mind was founded in the United States of America in 1978 and was introduced to China in 1988. It aims to foster students’ innovative capabilities and team spirits. In the competition, each team has to solve two kinds of problems: the long-term problem and the spontaneous problem. The long-term category has various types of problems, such as smart vehicles, installation, structure, etc. During the finals, team members present and perform their solutions on stage. The scoring criteria include innovation, artistry and comprehensiveness. In the spontaneous category, the team has to respond to one random question creatively within five minutes.

201706011副本

SJTU team’s three smart vehicles and a spare car (from left to right: pneumatic car, electric self-balancing car, electric ball car and double potential car)

201706012副本Last-minute tuning of the electric ball car before the contest

For the World Finals, the SJTU team members had meticulously planned and carried out the preparation. Their task was to design and produce three vehicles of different power systems which will travel on three different routes to reach the same destination while trying to avoid being followed. JI’s captain Chenxin Chen and Xueyang Liu were in charge of the process. After thorough discussions and assessment, they finally decided to produce a double potential car, a pneumatic car and an electric ball car. From design to production, the team went through CAD modeling, CNC machining, programming and debugging. The details of each car have been carefully considered and accurately calculated. Except for standard fasteners and electronic components, all parts and the circuit board wiring were completed by the duo using lathes, milling machines, drilling and welding. In order to achieve precise control, each car underwent more than 100 hours of testing and debugging to complete.

201706013副本The members of the SJTU Smart Car Team with Dr. C. Samuel Micklus, founder of the OM

According to the competition requirements, the construction of the three-dimensional garages, stage performances and decoration were completed by the other five team members. In the final performance, SJTU team’s creative story, unique background and artistic props got the highest score in the “style” category and won the accolade of the judges and audience. After the competition, team members accepted the “ribbon” blessing from other countries around the world.

201706014副本the SJTU OM team

The Odyssey of the Mind aims to promote young people’s well-rounded capabilities in science, art and humanities. It encourages young people to think outside the box and make bold inventions. The competition has become increasingly popular worldwide. The China final is held in Shanghai in early spring each year, participated by foreign teams as well as domestic teams from all over China.

SJTU’s OM Club was founded by JI student Junyi Xu in 2014, which has been committed to strengthening the undergraduate students’ second-classroom innovation and entrepreneurship education. The Club provides a platform for students to develop creativity, practice and train for the competition. Last year, the SJTU team competed as a Chinese champion in the OM World Final and won the third prize.

SJTU OM Team members

Leading staff: Bo Hei (JI)

Coach: Junyi Xu (JI)

Members: Chenxin Chen(JI), Xueyang Liu (JI), Yiyang Xu(JI), Xueting Song (Electrical), Chenliang Wu (Mechanical), Yue Zhuang (Mathematics), Yahui Sheng (Antai)