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Create the next generation Blackboard Door Reader
Blackboard Inc. is looking to create new door access readers. These readers are positioned within proximity of a door. The readers read a campus issued credential and either allow or deny the user access based on the privileges issued to that user.
Blackboard’s Door Access system allows a campus to control doors as well as who has access to and when they have access to the door. The system allows administrators to set a door to always open, controlled, controlled with PIN, or locked. The doors status can change based upon the doors defined operating schedule. If a door is in a controlled state a user will use their campus issued credential at the door reader to gain access. The Blackboard system will verify the user has the privileges to gain access to the location at that specific time.
The new family of door access readers will replace the existing Blackboard Series Door Readers. Currently, there are four (4) Door Reader types: contactless only, contactless with a PIN Pad, contactless and mag strip, and contactless with mag strip and a PIN pad.
The new solution does not need to consist of all four different models if the requirements can be met with less than four models. Blackboard clients expect state of the art technology that conforms to and enhances a campus environment.
Visit GrabCAD Blog to learn more about product design and for hints on getting started.
Your entry must include:
• Description supporting your design
• STEP or IGES file format
You are encouraged to include:
STL version (if your design is 3D print ready)
Native CAD file (SolidWorks 2015 preferred)
Mechanical drawings
Multiple renderings
Technical requirements:
Door reader should be sized to house the internal circuitry with dimensions: approximately 1.3” wide X 4.1” height X 0.2” deep (33mm X
104mm X 5.3mm).
Door Readers shall include:
Ability to take contactless credential
• Requires non-metallic housing for antenna
• Consideration for antenna sizing (1”x2” / 25mmX50mm)
Ability to take Mag Stripe credentials (Not required on all designs)
• Card slot dimension is 19mm (3/4") deep and 1mm (0.04") wide
Pin Pad (Not required on all designs)
• Number 0-9
• Clear and Enter Function keys
Universal symbols should be used
• Keypad allows for a brail overlay
Audible feedback
• Internal beeper or speaker
Visual feedback
• Multiple LED’s and colors
Accept/Deny/Power
• All LED’s must be visible in sunlight
Mounting
• Option 1: Flat or surface mount. Reader is mounted onto optional external housing box.
Intended for brick, stone, or hard surface mount.
• Option 2: Recessed using standard dimension electrical gang box so device is mostly flush with the surface.
• Option 3: Mullion mount – maximum of 1.7 inch wide (1.5 inch wide is preferred) with side mounted option.
Can be for contactless and contactless/keypad door reader only.
• Optional protective visor to protect from weather and bright sunlight.
• Have creative and secure mounting options.
Relatively simple tooling and production design for plastics.
Additional Design Considerations:
We are looking for a design that is:
• Beautiful
• Elegant
• Minimal
• Ergonomic
• High tech
• Rugged/Durable
• Vandal resistant
• Blends in with the surrounding architecture/environment
The design should:
• Provide ease of use.
• Include options with a PIN pad and / or with a mag stripe reader as a whole or modular design.
• Be able to withstand daily use in a campus environment, rugged enough to resist physical abuse or from being banged on or run into with backpacks and other objects.
• Weather resistant as the readers can be installed in inside or outside locations.
• Securely mounted, must be vandal resistant.
• Take into consideration relatively simple tooling and production.
• Minimize cost by reusing modular components.
Judging criteria:
Judging criteria will be based on achievement of accomplishing criteria listed above.
ENTERING THE COMPETITION The Challenge is open to everyone except employees and families of GrabCAD and the Sponsor. Multiple entries are welcome. Team entries are welcome. By entering the Challenge you: 1. Accept the official GrabCAD Challenges Terms & Conditions. 2. Agree to be bound by the decisions of the judges (Jury). 3. Warrant that you are eligible to participate. 4. Warrant that the submission is your original work. 5. Warrant, to the best of your knowledge, your work is not, and has not been in production or otherwise previously published or exhibited. 6. Warrant neither the work nor its use infringes the intellectual property rights (whether a patent, utility model, functional design right, aesthetic design right, trademark, copyright or any other intellectual property right) of any other person. 7. Warrant participation shall not constitute employment, assignment or offer of employment or assignment. 8. Are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement for any costs. 9. Agree the Sponsor and GrabCAD have the right to promote all entries. If you think an entry may infringe on existing copyrighted materials, please email challenges@grabcad.com
SUBMITTING AN ENTRY
Only entries uploaded to GrabCAD through the "Submit entry" button on this Challenge page will be considered an entry. Only public entries are eligible.
We encourage teams to use GrabCAD Workbench for developing their entries.
Entries are automatically given the tag "opensesame" when uploading to GrabCAD. Please do not edit or delete this tag. Only entries with valid tag will participate in the Challenge.
AWARDING THE WINNERS The sum of the Awards is the total gross amount of the reward. The awarded participant is solely liable for the payment of all taxes, duties and other similar measures if imposed on the reward pursuant to the legislation of the country of his/her residence, domicile, citizenship, workplace, or any other criterion of similar nature. Only 1 award per person. All judging decisions are final. All winners will be contacted by the GrabCAD staff to get their contact information and any other information needed to get the prize to them. Payment of cash awards is made through PayPal. All team awards will be transferred to the member who entered the Challenge. We will release the finalists before the announcement of the winners to give the Community an opportunity to share their favorites in the comments, discuss concerns, and allow time for any testing or analysis by the Jury. The Jury will take the feedback into consideration when picking the winners. Winning designs will be chosen based on the Rules and Requirements. - Entry deadline is February 7th, 2016 (11:59pm UTC). - The finalists will be announced by February 26th, 2016. - The winners will be announced by March 11th, 2016. Void where prohibited.
SPEC REFINEMENT We want to make sure that you have all of the information that you need to tackle the challenge. As such, in the first week of a challenge we may refine the specifications or offer clarifications based on member feedback. Please ask any questions that you have!
$4,500 in Prizes for top 6 places!
$2,500
$1,000
$500
$250
$150
$100
Blackboard Transact™ technology gives students the convenience of one card for all their needs—from building access to campus meals, to on and off-campus purchases. They’ll also have easy and secure access to financial aid credit balances, student payroll, or money deposited from home. Plus, Blackboard Transact technology helps make your campus a model of expert and efficient operations and delivers round-the-clock student services. A More Convenient Experience On and Beyond Campus At a time where student expectations for service are increasing at a faster rate than the budget, effectively leveraging an integrated OneCard program with the help of Blackboard Transact can help you create a seamless experience for your students. Your students will have unparalleled convenience and customer service, and you'll have a system that controls scarce resources, protects physical assets, and reduces overall costs.
With tools like this, we can build a better education experience for everyone on and beyond campus.
Tracy Sibley
Steve Forbis
Tom Kuestersteffen
Chris Challinor
Ben EwingHave an awesome idea for this competition? Want to win cool prizes? Sign-up now to upload your entries.
58 comments
J. F. Gomez almost 10 years ago
Hi, are we to use commercially available hardware (pin pads, readers, etc....) or can we assume these may be manufactured to spec?
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
At this time "go for it" on your designs, we want to see what everyone can come up with without limitations.
Ben Casto almost 10 years ago
What frequency will these be using? Could you post a link to the product we are meant to be replacing? Also, out of pure interest, is this the same Blackboard that develops the college learning software?
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
This comment was removed
Brandon Stein almost 10 years ago
Do we need to include any circuit board specification/modeling? If not, what kind of board sizes should we expect to accommodate?
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Currently we have a PCB assembly that is 4.1" (104.14mm) tall X 1.3" (33.02mm) wide X 0.197" (5mm) thick. It is two PCB's stacked together (one antenna PCB and one the main PCB). The 4.1" (104.14 mm) dimension may be shortened by 0.5" (12.7mm) as we may move some of the circuitry from the main PCB to the antenna PCB. It is not necessary to model the PCB's, I would just make a "block in that size so you know it would fit inside the design you come up with.
John Jackson almost 10 years ago
Are we allowed to have more than one entry?
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Yes, enter as many as you would like....but only one of your entries, if a winner, will be chosen.
Riadh Shili almost 10 years ago
Hello Mr Chris, are the doors supposed to be used by students or by administrators, or both of them !
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Riadh, both....they are programmable to allow access or not depending upon credentials
Master3D almost 10 years ago
I think "why don't give a real prize like: a job position in the company who is using the challenges to all the winners or at least those with the 1st,2nd and 3rd place", that is more inspiring, isn't ?
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
Hi Master3D, while there is no guarantee of employee for a winner, members who submit designs are actively building their portfolio and reputation in the eyes of millions of engineers and designers (many of whom work at top notch companies).
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
I wanted to let everyone know that we have added a clarification to the technical requirements as well. The door reader needs to be able to house the internal circuitry, approximately approximately 1.3” wide X 4.1” height X 0.2” deep (33mm X
104mm X 5.3mm) in size. If your reader won't be able to house this circuity, I strongly recommend tweaking your design such that it does.
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
Additionally, I want to remind everyone that the Mounting (see technical requirements above) is another important piece of your design. Please select one of the mounting options listed above and incorporate them into your design. And as always, if you have any questions, be sure to ask them here!
REDA DJABRI almost 10 years ago
Hi Chris, I have Add new Renrring here Blackboard Open Sesame 02
And Show animation here Blackboard Open Sesame 01
Thanks for your comment ;)
Regards
REDA
Leon Dutron almost 10 years ago
It's a good Challenge !!
Damian Mazurek almost 10 years ago
Do you have a problem with inserting projects? " Something went wrong with the upload of BlackBoard2 v1_blue_2.png. Please try again. "
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
Hi Damian Mazurek, everything should be working with our uploader. Are you still having this issue? If so, email the file to me at ben@grabcad.com and I'll look into this further and make sure that your file is uploaded properly!
MAF14 almost 10 years ago
great challenge!!!!
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
We are seeing a lot of good design ideas. One of the challenge criteria is "Have creative and secure mounting options" that is "Securely mounted, must be vandal resistant". We would like to see some details on your ideas for this as well. Also remember that a winning design will have a good "Description supporting your design". Thank you all for the great entries so far!!!
Angel Alexandrov almost 10 years ago
Hello, you have stated that the sizing of the antena for keyless entry is 1 X 2 inches but no thickness is given. Can you provide that size pls.
wahyu saputra almost 10 years ago
how many pages for the description ?
REDA DJABRI almost 10 years ago
Hi Chris,
I think if the keyboard lights with LED it is dangerous because you can see from a distance the numbers will light (at night), I think of those who have screens where the figure are provided with LED .... be careful about security
Regards
REDA
Andrey Dyachenko almost 10 years ago
I think the size of the antenna diametr 25 length 50 mm
REDA DJABRI almost 10 years ago
I mean When someone dial the code can distinguish far
REDA DJABRI almost 10 years ago
HI Ben, Chris, ALL,
you must tell us you want braille or not? not worth going to select a touch screen if there is no Braille .... not find an excuse stripe or else ....BRAILLE
Thank you for your understranding
Warm friendship to our friends who use braille
Best Regards
REDA
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Angel, from my reply at the beginning "Currently we have a PCB assembly that is 4.1" (104.14mm) tall X 1.3" (33.02mm) wide X 0.197" (5mm) thick. It is two PCB's stacked together (one antenna PCB and one the main PCB). The 4.1" (104.14 mm) dimension may be shortened by 0.5" (12.7mm) as we may move some of the circuitry from the main PCB to the antenna PCB. It is not necessary to model the PCB's, I would just make a "block in that size so you know it would fit inside the design you come up with."
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Reda, a valid concern about the Lite up pin pad, but most of the use cases for these is in limited access areas only, generally faculty members or security guards. Most students will not need to use a PIN for access.
Braille can be molded into the keys easily (not needed to be shown in your designs as we can add it if needed). If a standard phone layout the 5 key would have a bump on it and that will do. Other ways of adding braille are overlays or users will be issued a different type of card (higher security level) so they don't have to use the Pin Pad.
REDA DJABRI almost 10 years ago
Ok !I am reassured that you have the answers to my preoccupations ... :)
Thanks
Andrey Dyachenko almost 10 years ago
There is a contradiction.
Plastic door lock can not be vandalism. It should be a metal?
Chris said please.
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
We are not designing the "door lock", this device allows the user to open a locked door through other electronic controller (s) that send a signal to the doors lock mechanism to open or keep it locked. The device reads the users card, and based upon their credentials will allow the user to pass through or be denied entry.
I see no contradiction as we never stated we are designing a lock, only a card reader to control access.
Steve Christopher almost 10 years ago
For the keypad is a # and Star key needed or not required?
Steve Christopher almost 10 years ago
Also, could you supply a Line file or font that is used for the BLACKBOARD logo?
Momin Bashir almost 10 years ago
Updated my entry:
Blackboard Transact Reader
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Steve, numbers 0-9 with clear and enter are all the key pad needs, grab the logo from the "About Blackboard Transact" section of the description. But If you want to make it a s close as possible yourself use Arial font and hand draw the two arrows (this is what I do for our renderings here).
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Thank you all for your entries into this Blackboard Challenge, looks like we are going to have a hard time choosing winners out of this 171 entry selection.
Momin Bashir almost 10 years ago
Can I still add renderings to my model,so that it should be considered by the jury?
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
I'm happy to announce the finalists for the Open Sesame Challenge a little early: https://grabcad.com/challenges/open-sesame-challenge/results! Next the judges will be taking an in-depth look at all of the judging criteria and how each entrant performed in those areas. Congratulations to the finalists and to all of the entrants!
Adriano Ordoz Barissa almost 10 years ago
Congratulations to all the finalists! They are great the chosen work.
My favorite is:
Blackboard Sesame 06
ANOUAR BARODI almost 10 years ago
Thanks Blackboard and GrabCAD for choosing my model among the finalist, I am truly honored and very happy, congrats to all !!!
@ Adriano, thanks so much !!!
Jonathan Brazeau almost 10 years ago
This one FTW by a mile, great work pedro!
Blackboard Door Reader
@ BB, why did you choose entries with metallic finishes, no mounting systems and expensive features and components not to mention unmold able designs? It comes off more like a conceptual design challenge than an actual hardware challenge. Please be more clear next time.
David Jamieson almost 10 years ago
Congrats to all of the finalists!
@ BB, have to agree with @ Jonathon above that a number of the choices (not all) appear to be based purely on aesthetics rather than the criteria laid out in your design rules i.e. most tick the brief from your dot point of "Additional Design Considerations" and not much else. I can't fault you on the fact that they do look amazing but had I (and potentially a number of other entrants) realised that this was what you were after in the first instance I would have concentrated more in this area rather than the 'platform' itself.
marcus almost 10 years ago
Congratulations to the finalists. Blackboard_Plate_Design Series, stood out for me, they are however all very pleasing aesthetically. Good luck to all! Sadly I also misread this brief.
MAB ( Mehmet ) almost 10 years ago
The best model is Blackboard Sesame 06 by anouar.barodi-1
Eira almost 10 years ago
Congrats to all finalist!
Thank you BB and GrabCAD for listed my model as finalist
Blackboard Reader Concept 2
Pedro Almeida almost 10 years ago
It's a Great Honor to see my entry Blackboard Door Reader be part of the finalists! @BB Great choice for the finalist, but i think theres's one design that whould also deserve to be listed on this selection. https://grabcad.com/library/portuneso-door-access-reader-1
@Jonathan, thank you for your comment;) Good Luck to everyone, may the best win.
Alexander V. almost 10 years ago
Don't understand this selection. Again... What were the criteria?
Just look at that. Three! of final entries with slot for mag stripe card which is parallel to the wall. At this little distance to the wall this is very unfriendly. How user will be swiping? Please no offense but this part of mechanical design is basically wrong. Sorry but as for me it's unacceptable for the final enrty.
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
Hi Alexander V., thank you for the feedback. The finalist selections were made based on how well the entry satisfied the Technical Requirements listed above, as well as the look, durability and ergonomics of the design. The card reader is definitely one factor that went into the decision, but there was a lot of criteria that the judges evaluated. When the winners are selected, more information will be released in regards to the ratings of each entry.
Antonio DBG almost 10 years ago
Congratulations to all finalists! It has been a truly enriching experience to have participated in this my first challenge and have learnt from all the great designers who have taken part in it. Regarding the models that have made it to the final, my favorites would be the models from Pedro Almeida and Anouar Barodi. Also, I think the model from Gorjup Design (Portuneso Door Access Reader) should be among the finalists.
Respect the judging criteria I have to say that, in my honest opinion, it was a bit inconsistent. Some of the designs lack in the mechanical approach in terms of being vandal resistant, or how they would be assembled. In fact, some designs have a very fragile anchoring system, or don´t even have one! For me that was very disappointing, especially having in mind that one of the requisites was to “have creative and secure mounting options”.
In general terms I agree with most of the models that were selected, although I believe that the visual (or concept) part had more weight in the decision that the mechanical part.
That being said, again congratulations to all the finalist and wish you the best for the more-in-depth selection process. It has been a very nice experience, see you in the next challenge!
Antonio DBG almost 10 years ago
And sorry for the spam of messages, didn´t find the "Edit coment" button and had to delete and re-post the message twice...
ANOUAR BARODI almost 10 years ago
Thanks a lot Antonio for liking my model Blackboard Sesame 06 !!!
Chris Challinor almost 10 years ago
Sorry I've been working hard the past few days so I have not had time to respond to the recent comments. Thanks to all the people who entered as well.
That said, Jonathan and David....while I did not have final say in our picks, I did get to say if or not the designs presented were feasible. I do not look at ideas presented to me as impossible, I look at what can be done to make a design work. All of the picks can be made to work and metallic finishes or expensive components can be changed out to things that are less costly or easier to produce. Today's finishing techniques can reproduce just about any look you want for less cost than you may think, I can even tell you how to chrome plate any material without having to resort to harsh chemicals (look up Hyrochrome).
Alexander, I agree that a card slot on the same plan as the wall is not ergonomic, but by taking a look at the design and imagining the slot at an angle you can envision how to make it work. As I said earlier, i do not look at what makes a design not work, but how I can change it to work.
On the lack of wall mounting options, well to be honest not many entrants even gave it a second thought....so we really did not have many ideas to choose from. We also did not get many entrants who even bothered to explain their designs either.....something else we really wanted from the entrants.
Choosing the top ten was hard, now deciding on the finishing places is even harder. we really appreciate all of the GrabCAD community for their work in this challenge and others we will have in the future.
Jonathan Brazeau almost 10 years ago
bottom line, your choices are your choices and you have every right to them, more power to you. Congrats to the nominees!
"As I said earlier, i do not look at what makes a design not work, but how I can change it to work. "
Would have helped to be more clear on this, this basically means that BB was looking for conceptual designs not finished polished RFM designs and files. The difference between a quicky conceptual model and a full-on design, ready for manufacturing can be weeks of work....
"On the lack of wall mounting options, well to be honest not many entrants even gave it a second thought....so we really did not have many ideas to choose from..."
I was one of the few who did put focus on the mounting system….sure, it might not have been BB’s taste in design but it did show an effort to meet the criteria and, in your words, it could be “changed to work” very easily, that compared to a model that didn’t offer any idea’s in terms of mounting system/vandal proofing should be given priority.
FYI, my first BB challenge, I had fun, glad for everyone, more power to the finalists, but I think next time I will second guess entering a challenge held by BB given That the criteria were not adhered to
Ben Ewing almost 10 years ago
I'm happy to announce the winners: https://grabcad.com/challenges/open-sesame-challenge/results! Thanks to everyone who participated! There were so many unique solutions for this awesome challenge. To pick the winners the judges rated each of the finalists based on the judging criteria and rated the winners based on Aesthetics (1-10), Ergonomics (1-10) Cost (1-10) and Technical Requirements (1-10). Congrats to the winners and all of the finalists.
ANOUAR BARODI almost 10 years ago
Thanks so much Blackboard and GrabCAD !!! Congratulations to all, I am really very happy and very honored, thank you so much !!!
Pedro Almeida almost 10 years ago
Congratulations to all winners and finalists! Happy to join the group of the best. Keep up this great challenges GC and BB.
Wilams Wilams about 2 years ago
This comment was removed
Ahmad raza about 2 years ago
This comment was removed
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