Abul Kalam Design Challenge 2017

The Abul Kalam Design Challenge (AKDC), the second event of its kind organised by IMechE NSC, was held on 27 and 28 December at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (SMME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST).

The event aimed to provide students with the opportunity to apply the skills learnt in coursework on a real engineering application. Well over a hundred participants, both from NUST and from other universities, participated enthusiastically in front of an energetic crowd. The arena for the competition had been meticulously designed keeping in mind the specified parameters of the competition.

Students were asked to design a pipe climber robot that would be capable of quickly ascending and descending a pipe of a specified diameter. The unique and innovative designs on display gave an insight to the creativity and talent of the youth, while the teamwork and passion displayed by the students was a truly motivating sight.

These students had all passed the initial stages of presentations and evaluations to reach this stage, and were determined to prove themselves. This competition had provided them – very early on in their engineering education – a chance to gain some valuable hands-on experience.

The students competed in multiple rounds. Afterwards, they were questioned regarding their projects by the judges. A large audience assembled each day, gathering close to watch and cheer as the devices were launched into the arena. Even if a device struggled to climb, the students took heart from the fact that their hard work would contribute in increasing their knowledge of their field.

Due to the excellent organisation by the committee, and the cooperation and assistance of the faculty, the event was an astounding success. The faculty members present praised the efforts of the organising committee as well as the standard of competition at display.

The competition saw 120 students from SMME participating - this project had been embedded into their workshop course - as well as 15 students from NUST School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME) and 15 students from NUST College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (CEME).



At the end of the two-day event the three teams with the fastest times were awarded prizes:

First Prize

Team ‘Nut n Bolt’:

• Syed Faraz Hussain Kazmi
• Talha Razzaq
• Zartash Aslam
• Waheb Naveed Asad
• Talha Rauf

Second Prize

Team ‘Mech Mavericks’:

• Muhammad Munim Moazzam Dar
• Muhammad Ahmad Saeed
• Muhammad Hasnat Aman
• Muhammad Hamza Naeem
• Muhammad Hashir Naeem

Third Prize

Team ‘Spades’:

• Mohammad Ali
• Mahnoor Bilal
• Muhammad Rizwan Farooq
• Mohsin Bashir
• Jawad Ali

The competition was meant to serve as a professional development opportunity, in keeping with IMechE’s commitment to long-term career development­­­. Given that the participants were not expected to have much hands-on experience, it was hoped that giving them such a problem to solve would bring about greater appreciation of the practical side of engineering. Judging from the response of the participants - who hailed the event as an excellent learning experience - it certainly did.