Since its inception in 2016, the Abul Kalam Design Challenge has remained one of IMechE’s flagship events, aiming to push boundaries every year with bigger and better contests that allow students to use their imagination in conjunction with technical knowledge in pursuit of engineering excellence.
This year’s competition, design and manufacturing of an external pipeline climber, was spearheaded by a new and invigorated organising committee headed by Mr. Sameer bin Khalid, and co-event heads, Mr. Raffay Waseem and Mr. Anas Muzammil under the dynamic leadership of Student Chair IMechE NUST Student Chapter, Mr. Osama Abdur Rehman and Young Members Panel Vice Chair, Pakistan Group, Mr. Saad Shabeer.
The attendees consisted of 20 esteemed guests, from prestigious industries across Pakistan, 40 contestants from top Pakistani universities and around 150 students including IMechE members.
The event began with Dr. Mohammed Uneeb, Vice Chair of IMechE Pakistan and Chair for the event, providing a briefing to the panel of judges which consisted of six esteemed personalities - Mr. Shahid Mumtaz, Mr. M. Arslan Haider, Mr. Safi Ghauri, Mr. Hassan Ghayasuddin Ansari, Dr. Kamran Afaq and Dr. Mohammad Uneeb, the Chief judge. The opening ceremony was hosted by Ms. Laveeza Fatima and Mr. Shahzaib Asim, in which Dr. David Ball, Chair of IMechE Northwest Region UK, and Head of the IMechE Design Challenge, made a video address to the attendees consisting of 40 contestants and around 20 honorable guests from industries including Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited, Millat Tractors, ICI Pakistan Limited, KSB Pumps Company Limited, Uch Power Limited, toastmasters and dignitaries from the Engineering and Development Board.
The contest officially began with two heats in which the eight competing teams took turns showing off their designed projects to the judges. The objective was to create an external pipeline climber, and each team competently executed their own approach to the challenge in the form of their devices.
The runner up device
After examining the technical skills of each team, the judges proceeded with the poster competition, in which various related posters made by each team were observed and marked. The presentation phase followed, hosted by Mr. Adil Awan, where the teams were tasked with presenting and explaining their projects to the respected judges, giving the contestants an opportunity to demonstrate their thought process, and the intricacies of their creation. After a short refreshment break, a third heat took place involving further dissection of the efforts of each group, and the merits of their projects.
The contest culminated in a final heat involving the top three teams. This heat was attended by Mr. Tahir Javaid, CEO HUBCO Power Services Ltd, the Chief Guest for the event. Once the competition had concluded, the judges and industrial guests were taken on a tour of the various labs and workspaces housed by SMME.
The tour was followed by the closing ceremony with Ms. Sjaa Mukhtar and Ms. Kinza Naveed as Master of Ceremony, during which the Director Quality Assurance NUST, Dr. Riaz Ahmed, and the chief guest for the event, Mr. Tahir Javaid addressed a seminar hall full of about 190 attendees. Further addresses were made by the Principal of SMME, Professor Dr. Shahid Ikramullah Butt, and the Chair of Pakistan Design Challenge, Dr. Mohammad Uneeb. The formalities wrapped up with the prize giving. Here, the winning teams were awarded shields, and all contestants were given certificates of participation to acknowledge their immense enthusiasm and commitment which fueled the competition. The judges were also given tokens of appreciation in the form of shields.
The poster competition was won by Dynamic Thriller, Idealists, and Gear, whereas the Best Presentation award went to Dynamic Thriller and Pentagon. Pentagonalso secured the overall runners up position, but Dynamic Thriller, Idealists, and Gear was declared the Grand Winner of the competition with the recorded time of 3.92 seconds for device to go up and down. And so, an intense contest and an eventful day ended, with another successful Abul Kalam Design Challenge under IMechE’s belt.
The immense success of this year’s event was made possible through the support of our sponsors, the Hub Power Company (HUBCO) – the first and largest privately-funded Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Pakistan with a combined production capacity of over 1600 MW.
Events such as this play a significant role in highlighting the importance of practical application of theoretical knowledge. They allow future engineers and problem-solvers to spread their wings and gain invaluable professional experience, which ultimately ensures that the knowledge being gained by such students can be implemented towards the benefit of society. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the true purpose of education?