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10B Railway Express Agency Background: For 56 years, the REA moved the America's packages and freight. It was the precursor to today’s UPS and FedEX. One of the shared aspects of the REA was the Railway Post Office (RPO), which was basically a postal sorting facility in its own rail car. As the train would travel through towns (at speeds up to 80 mph), a hook would grab the inbound mail and the outbound mail would be thrown off the train. As can be imagined, fragile packages thrown off the train could experience some damage. It is now 2005 and gas prices are making rail freight desirable once again. Your business startup is a resurrection of the Railway Express Agency, but this time with modern robotics. Your boss, Mr. Big, wants you to model a 21st century package transfer system that works with speeding trains… Objective: To design a lightweight device, powered by rubber bands, which grabs a “mail bag” off of a moving HO gauge train in a proscribed distance. Competition Pictures
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