High pouring and low pouring, Guan Gong patrolling the city, Han Xin deploying troopsThese traditional tea brewing techniques familiar to Chaoshan peoplecan be easily realized in a small tea brewing machineIt is precisely this multifunctional tea brewing machinethat integrates multiple advanced technologiesand won the First Prize in the National Mechanical Competition
Click ↑↑↑ for a video to experience the entire operation process of the tea brewing machine!
“What is the National College Student Mechanical Innovation Design Competition?”
The National College Student Mechanical Innovation Competition is a national A-level professional discipline competition organized by the Teaching Steering Committee of Mechanical Engineering of the Ministry of Education.Since its inception in 2004, it has been held every two years and has become one of the most influential and well-known competitions in the domestic mechanical industry, significantly enhancing students’ engineering practice abilities and overall quality.The theme of the 9th Mechanical Innovation Design Competition is “Smart Home, Happy Family.” The competition started on March 22, 2019, lasted for 1 year and 8 months, and received 4719 entries from 678 universities across 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, with nearly 100,000 student participants.How was such an interesting tea brewing machine completed?What stories lie behind winning the national first prize?Join Xiaoxin and step into this lovely team of engineering students from Huazhong Agricultural University!
A competition experience that realized dreams
“How did you feel when you just got off the plane?”
“It was too cold!” Wen Hanyong on the other side of the table mumbled, shrinking his body as if still in the biting winter wind.
From December 21 to 22, 2020, the 9th National College Student Mechanical Innovation Design Competition (hereinafter referred to as the “National Competition”) was held at Southwest Jiaotong University. At this time, Chengdu was in winter, and a biting cold wind swept through, hitting the team members’ faces hard.
Due to the need for epidemic prevention and control, the exhibition of works in this competition was set outdoors, which meant that this team would endure a morning of “severe torture” from the cold wind.
But the cold makes one alert. At a small booth in the exhibition area, Zeng Zhihao was meticulously introducing their work to the judges: “Our work can realize the tea art processes of ‘high pouring and low pouring’, ‘Guan Gong patrolling the city’, and ‘Han Xin deploying troops’ based on the ‘Eight Steps’ method of traditional Chaoshan Kung Fu tea.” After finishing, Zeng Zhihao immediately demonstrated the operation and explained the effects of the Bluetooth, button control system, and display information system working together.
From the first round of presentations and Q&A to the second round, the intense schedule over two days tested not only the quality of the work but also the team’s ability to withstand pressure. “Fortunately, we were able to answer all the judges’ questions.” The confidence of the team members stemmed from the quality of the product and their thorough understanding of it.
The noisy clamor was only to witness that crisp shout. Although they had prepared mentally, when they truly stood on the podium at the national finals, team leader Zeng Zhihao could not hide his excitement, “It felt like a dream.”
As the white spotlight lit up, they stood where the first prize winners belonged. This team from Huazhong Agricultural University had fought through the provincial competition, national semi-finals, and national finals without stopping, ultimately reaping a path of flowers.
After receiving the certificate and trophy, Li Weijian immediately called his advisor Qing Yanmei to share the good news. “In fact, the teacher was very concerned about our situation and kept asking about the competition results. But when we told her the good news, her first sentence was to ask us to check if there were any mistakes in the name on the certificate.” Upon mentioning this, the five of them laughed, saying the teacher is a very meticulous person.
Although the trip back to Guangdong was rushed, a celebration banquet after winning the award was still essential. They set a date at a hot pot restaurant and hurried to eat. The bubbling soup in the pot mixed with spicy aromas wafted over, “Sichuan hot pot is really delicious.”
This hot pot meal was hard-earned.
A moment of inspiration
Back to April 2019, the theme of the 9th National College Student Mechanical Innovation Design Competition was officially announced as “Smart Home, Happy Family”. At that time, Zeng Zhihao, a junior in the School of Engineering, was eager to participate—he had started forming a team as early as the end of 2018.
The team consisted of his roommates Qiu Weibin, Wen Hanyong, and Li Weijian and Liu Yuxing from the School of Electronic Engineering and the School of Artificial Intelligence. Upon hearing the news of recruiting participating teams, Zeng Zhihao did not hesitate to submit the application form.
“Among all the works entering the provincial competition, the probability of winning the first prize is only 3.8%.” In this competition, one of the highest recognitions in the field of mechanical design for Chinese college students, the best previous result for Huazhong Agricultural University students was the national second prize in 2003. Faced with such fierce competition, they initially regarded participation as an opportunity for training, “At that time, we expected our best result to be the provincial second prize.”
Confronted with the theme of “smart home,” the team made many attempts: what kind of work could reflect the professionalism of mechanical design while achieving the practicality of “smart home”?
“We initially planned to make a dishwasher, but it was not quite in line with the competition theme, so we shelved it. Later, the design of an automatic drying rack was also rejected due to high costs.” After numerous revisions and attempts, the final inspiration came from Qiu Weibin, a member of the team from Chaoshan.
Compared to ordinary tea brewing, the Chaoshan Kung Fu tea culture has formed a set of brewing system that Chaoshan people have been exposed to since childhood, including techniques like “high pouring and low pouring,” “Guan Gong patrolling the city,” and “Han Xin deploying troops,” which are rich in folk flavor. If this system could be restored through a machine, their work would not only align with the competition theme but also imbue cold machinery with cultural care.
Inspiration flowed like a spring. Through discussions and improvements with their teacher, the team transformed their inspiration into a complete and feasible design document, ultimately standing out among more than ten teams in the school competition to enter the provincial competition.
A journey of overcoming challenges in production
The imagined work was just taking shape, but reality dealt a heavy blow—insufficient funding. A complete finished machine was required for the provincial competition, but the team’s budget could not cover the entire production costs.
To save on the 3D printing costs for the machine body, they frequented all the 3D printing shops offering free first-order services on the platform, using all five of their accounts and even borrowing from classmates and friends. To solve the procurement and production costs of electronic and mechanical components, they worked overnight to write the University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (referred to as “Big Innovation”) application and project description just to secure a 10,000 yuan grant.
At that time, they had only 2 days left to submit the application. When the mouse clicked “send,” Zeng Zhihao let out a long breath, finally relaxing the tense string.
It seemed that heaven had specially favored them; this random submission unexpectedly received national-level project approval, “It felt like a sinking ship suddenly being saved.”
“We actually thought that if the funding was still insufficient, we would have to pay out of our own pockets to complete it.” Reflecting on the past, Zeng Zhihao stated firmly.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, the provincial competition originally scheduled for April 2020 had to be postponed. With no certainty about the return to school, the five members, who had just completed several basic components, were somewhat at a loss.
“Just keep working! As long as we take it step by step, we won’t feel lost.” Faced with difficulties, the boys quickly regained their spirits. To continue working during the epidemic, Zeng Zhihao bit the bullet and purchased an expensive 3D printer for his home. Wen Hanyong and Li Weijian went to Zeng Zhihao’s house, and the group worked hard for more than a month. By the end of the summer vacation, the entire machine had taken shape.
After returning to school, due to the impact of the epidemic, the laboratory was in short supply, so Zeng Zhihao’s dormitory became the team’s regular working location.
“During that time, the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes in the morning was the machine, and the last thing I saw before closing my eyes at night was also the machine. At first, the progress was not good, and I often burned parts to the point of tears, which was quite distressing.” Li Weijian recalled, “But in the end, we persevered.”
During the day, they burned models, and at night, they wrote instructions; almost all their time revolved around the project. They would enter with the morning sun and return under the stars, which became the norm in that small dormitory for over a year.Zeng Zhihao smiled and said, “Behind every successful team are a few great roommates.”
A product that is sufficiently perfect
“For a product to have market competitiveness, even if it’s just a small part, we must invest the greatest effort to continuously improve it.” To achieve the best effect in their minds, the team meticulously focused on every detail, striving for perfection, even if it meant “proposing six problems to solve one problem” without getting tired or racking their brains.
To reflect the word “smart” in the competition theme, they also designed a mini-program and installed Bluetooth devices on the machine. With the cooperation of the code, users can easily command the machine to brew a pot of exquisite Kung Fu tea while lying in bed, truly achieving a perfect combination of “smart home” and mechanical design.
On the finals stage, many teams produced tea brewing machines. Facing competitors from all over the country, the five of them were very confident, “Other teams’ machines are a work, while our machine is more like a product.”
“Many other teams’ machines resemble a collection of functional components, pieced together like an assembly line for brewing tea, but we tried to minimize the tea brewing machine to achieve structural integration. ” Zeng Zhihao explained. During the demonstration, the judges saw that this team from Huazhong Agricultural University even used a single power source to support the operation of all components while employing advanced technologies such as screws to perfectly restore the techniques of “high pouring and low pouring,” “Guan Gong patrolling the city,” and “Han Xin deploying troops” in the Chaoshan Kung Fu tea system.
A bountiful harvest
Looking back on their university life, the five boys unanimously mentioned that their time was filled with competitions, and they enjoyed the process of competing, “Competitions are life, and they are also entertainment.”
“Personal interest is a major part, winning awards is one thing, but I actually enjoy the process more.” Zeng Zhihao sighed, “I can meet many friends, stay up late together, sleep on the floor together, and brew tea in the lab. I enjoy the feeling of everyone striving for the same goal together.” He concluded, “It’s just very immersive.”
Qiu Weibin recalled that his previous competitions felt more like a series of necessary trial-and-error processes. “I didn’t invest enough energy before, and the sacrifices were insufficient; my contributions to many projects were like a dragonfly skimming the water. Sometimes I could win due to good luck, but this time I was truly fully committed.” He laughed, “This time, it would be surprising if we didn’t win an award.”
As for the future, the five of them have different goals. Zeng Zhihao, who successfully secured a graduate position at Zhejiang University, decided to continue his studies in mechanical design, “I really like Iron Man; influenced by my physics teacher in middle school, I get excited whenever I mention machinery. I feel that sticking to this direction can bring value to society and the country.”
Liu Yuxing received an offer from a company in the industry during this year’s autumn recruitment, hoping to contribute to the field of autonomous driving in the future: “Through this competition, I learned a lot about mechanical knowledge and realized that the future manufacturing industry cannot do without advanced equipment, and electronics and mechanics will inevitably combine.”
Qiu Weibin, Li Weijian, and Wen Hanyong are also preparing for graduate school and other opportunities while heading to the next competition.
“Don’t think of competitions as distant stars, unreachable,” the five of them calmly shared their thoughts on competitions and hope that younger students can bravely move forward without worries, “Try more; it’s not necessary to win awards, and you don’t have to do something unprecedented to participate.”
“As long as you present what you have learned from your books seriously and strive for excellence, with enough effort, you will eventually be rewarded. ”
Written by | Media Integration Studio Tan Jiongzhao Hu Kexin
Images by | Media Integration Studio Liu Jingyi Zhong Ziqi Some provided by interviewees
WeChat Editor | Media Integration Studio Hu Kexin Liang Yingyi
Editor | Xie Han
Review | Fang Wei
Approval | Guo Zhuo
Efforts will eventually lead to success; give a “like” to this excellent team!