University of South Alabama ASCE High School Competition 2025

35.5 in gap · weights hung from the lower chord at 2 points · no mass limit

Max efficiency Balanced: 75% efficiency, 25% load Balanced: 50% efficiency, 50% load Balanced: 25% efficiency, 75% load Max load

16 simulations 32 simulations 64 simulations

Best bridges at this trade-off

#	Who	Optimizer	Bridge	Collapses at	Weighs	Score
1	Bridge Lab baseline	CMA-ES	flat warren-3	4.35 kg	34.6 g	126

Score is load ÷ weight^w of each run's best bridge, from the full collapse simulation; at max efficiency it is the contest's own score. One row per handle; a bridge found by several runs counts for whoever found it first. Simulated, not yet checked on real breaks.

What the runs have taught us

CMA-ESbest 126 · median 116 · 3 runs
Random searchUntried: be the first
Hill climbingUntried: be the first
Simulated annealingUntried: be the first
Genetic algorithmUntried: be the first
Bayesian optimization