We are the Primates and we made a gorilla that bangs its chest when you twist the crank and pull the ropes. Gorillas bang their chest as a battle cry and display of power as a warning to other gorillas. We found that getting the length right was the hardest thing. We really enjoyed pulling the ropes to make it bang its chest. We all worked really well together and when we disagreed we sorted it out quickly.

It was really fun making the cardboard structure for the head and drawing the face. We ended up making a brain out of rubber bands and paper, and we added ears. In the end when we finished the head it looked a lot like a gorilla.

When doing the arms the most difficult part was figuring out how to make them move. We ended up using a blue joiner and tying string to the crank to make them move back and forth. We spent no money and used mainly just the kit.

It was difficult to make the shape the right size since there were no curved poles. The head was especially hard to make as heads are normally circle or oval. The gorilla is 1.1 metres tall, 1.3 metres long and 1 metre wide. We put white paper on the back of the gorilla to make it not look so see through.

We built the legs, originally they were 3D but they used too many materials so we had to change them. Now they are good and they are DONE and they are not being changed! We wish there were more materials so we could make the legs fully 3D.

Our Materials:

• Wing nuts - 107
  
• Screws - 107
  
• Red joiners - 39
  
• Blue joiners - 84
  
• 200 millimetre rods - 13
  
• 400 millimetre rods - 13
  
• 700 millimetre rods - 20
  
• Axles - 2
  
• Rubber bands - 36
  
• Gears - 1
  
• Crank handle - 1
  
• Paper - 11
  
• Cardboard - 5
  
• Ropes - 3
  
• Plates - 1
  
• Saucepan lid - 1
  
• Wooden spoon - 2
  
• Tape
  

What is EPro8?

The EPro8 Challenge is an engineering and problem solving competition. Every year over 10,000 students from 800 schools from throughout New Zealand take part.

Teams compete to:

• build large sized structures
  
• solve practical problems
  
• engineer using pulleys, motors, gears, wheels and axles
  
• invent simple machines
  
• undertake fun experiments
  
• construct electronic circuits
  
• solve practical maths problems
  

Mt Pleasant's involvement with Epro8 has looked a little different this year as a result of Covid restrictions. Initially teams of 4 students were invited to complete a problem solving challenge at school using our very own Epro8 kit which was purchased last year with the generous help of our PTA. 

 Each team had 5hrs to design and build their an animal for the new city zoo. They had to submit a photo, short film showing the moving parts and a one page report. All of the submissions throughout Canterbury were judged and the top five teams made it through to the semi finals. One of our Yr 5/6 teams, named The Primates, gained 5th place and earned the right to compete with other schools in the second stage of the competition. Zara, Milly, Charlie H and Skye had a lot of fun completing the challenges and were pleased to gain 9th place in the semi finals. 

Well done to everyone who took part in the 2020 Challenge!