The Cat Dragons

Event Year: 2024
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Junior Solar Sprint
Division: 4-6 (JSS Green)
School: Buck Lake Elementary
Team Name: The Cat Dragons
Project Name: Dragon Rose Cat Cafe
Team Size: 2

Our Team

Hi, we’re the Cat Dragons! Our team consists of two people, Clara and Genevieve. Our team name was inspired by cats and dragon, because we both love cats and dragons. Our project was inspired by our love for cats, and the cat cafes here in Tallahassee. It was also inspired by dragons, which have played a great role in our lives because both of us have been drawing them since when we were young ( its how met each other!). We are both in 5th grade, and we go to Buck Lake Elementary School. We’ve been doing solar cars since 3rd grade, and we made it to state in 4th grade for innovation.

Our Team Photo

Our Solar Car

Our solar car is called the Dragon Rose Cat Café, a café where cats and people can relax and have fun. It has a floor splotched with different colors and brown pillars to support the solar panel. The wires are green, so when they are wrapped around the pillars they look like vines. We also have a cat bed with a pillow and a pod in which the cats have to go into during travel. This area is called “The Cozy Corner”. Our passenger is a drawn on ping-pong ball that looks like a calico cat named Moonspeck. The other side the car is an area where cats and dragons can relax and enjoy calming drinks, such as tea and coffee. Our solar car is 13 inches long, about 26 centimeters wide, and 17.5 centimeters tall. ( This is basically an estimate, because the wheels are not at the end of the chassis). If you look at the top of the solar car, you can see a cat toy which cats can play with when they’re bored. As well as the cat toy, there is a hanging bed where cats can sleep, and we have a corridor to the exit so cats can’t get out. Near the corridor is an opening where the Cozy Corner and the café area is divided. Our car also has a circular eyelet made out of a paper clip that was wrapped around a pencil, since we find these types of eyelets more efficient. The Dragon Rose Cat Café is a trailer meant to transport cats from a shelter to a designated location so that the people who paid for the experience can have the cats come to them. This increases the chance of the cats getting adopted, because people would rather go to a café than an animal shelter. You may wonder why our team deserves a place in design, and the reason(s) why is because we worked really hard on the design, architecture, and overall look of the inside area of the car.

Basic foundation Description

The basic foundation of the car has a corrugated plastic chassis with a solar panel held up with four paper pillars of the same height horizontally. The wheels are size medium, with a small-sized pulley. The wheels are held by tape on the axels (kebob sticks), and small-size length green wires. The eyelet is a paperclip that was wrapped around a pencil to make it circular.

Solar Car Aerial View

Solar Car Time Trials

Mass / Weight	Length	Width	Height	Solar Panel Dimensions	Rear Wheel Diameter	Front Wheel Diameter
332 g	13 inches	26 cm	17.5 cm	33 cm X 11.5 cm	5 cm	5 cm

Battery Time Trials	Meters	Seconds	Speed	Conditions	Comments
Trial 1	8	27	0.29 meters	cloudy; sun peeking through	It moved moderately fast; not too slow
Trial 2	8	26	0.3 meters	cloudy	A bit faster than the last trial
Trial 3	8	29	0.27	cloudy	Goes at a consistent speed even though it’s slow

Solar Panel Time Trials	Meters	Seconds	Speed	Conditions	Comments
Trial 1	8	29	0.27 meters	relatively sunny	Moved relatively moderate speed
Trial 2	8	30	0.26 meters	mostly sunny; a few clouds	Moved moderately fast; slower than battery average
Trial 3	8	31	0.25 meters	cloudy; sun out just enough	Moves slower with less sun

More Solar Car Photos (not all photos are exactly up-to-date)

Reflection & Bloopers

Unfortunately, when our teacher wasn’t here, we placed our boxes outside her door, and the janitors came and mistakenly threw all our hard work away. So, we sadly do not have a car to use in the competition. We spent a lot of hard work on the car, as well as money and our own items on it, and to see it all thrown away like it was nothing, felt horrible, and it definitely did not feel like a blooper. Over Easter weekend we added many items, such as a mini tea set, a corridor so cats can’t get out, café wall opening to keep cats out of the café area, a cat ceiling hammock, and a hanging cat toy. We would have needed the wall that separates the café from the cat area because of health code violations.