Institution news
AKDC, Abul Kalam Design Challenge, is a nationwide engineering design competition organised by IMechE (Institute of Mechanical Engineers). The competition defines a challenge for teams from all over the country, and students from various institutes participate in the competition. This year, AKDC Nationals were held online, keeping in view the spread of COVID-19. Dr David Ball, founder of the Design Challenge, and Dr Muhammad Uneeb, former Chair of IMechE Pakistan Group graced the event as Judges.
At the beginning of the competition, Dr David Ball iterated the importance of AKDC in preparing the students for the industry. He said that the competition allowed the participants to learn how their classroom knowledge could be applied for solving real-world problems.
The challenge for the day’s event was to design a vehicle that shall go forward and then retrace its path. The twist here was that the vehicle should not need any external input of energy, and the point of excellence was how accurately the vehicle retraced its path. All the teams presented excellent models for achieving the above-stated objective.
Some teams went for mechanical methods involving strings for measuring the distance. While others opted for electrical components. Another objective was to lower the costs for the vehicle and make the vehicle suitable for real-world applications. The teams were also required to make comprehensive presentations about their vehicles to the panel of Judges and Participants. A few teams went as far as incorporating working simulations of their models. Other teams opted for elaborative descriptions and diagrams of their vehicles.
The Judges took their time questioning the contestants about their vehicles, making sure that the designs were workable, and the participants had worked out the nitty-gritty. Some major points raised were managing the vehicle’s steering, and the materials used in the models. The teams exhibited an in-depth knowledge of their designs, and all the teams did their best to satisfy the questions raised by the different judges.
The Teams had gone through an intensive process, repeating, and testing the designs over and over to come up with their final solutions. After each presentation, a panel of four judges evaluated the teams’ presentations individually and marked the performance over a range of testing points including presentation skills, the cost of the vehicle, and the complexity of the design.
A total of six teams participated in the event. They represented NED University, Karachi. Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI), University of Engineering and Technology Taxila (UET), and finally two teams from the Host University NUST. Towards the end of the event, the Judges took their time for deciding the winner. While the Judges decided the winners, the reputed guests delved into discussing the importance of such events for students. Representative faculty members from the different institutions expressed their enthusiasm for participating in AKDC in the coming years. The Hosts briefed the participants about other events held under the canopy of IMechE.
Team NUTS & BOLTS from NUST secured first place, while Team MultiCraft of UET Taxila secured second place. The Guests congratulated the participants for participating, and Dr David Ball took the stage for discussing why he decided to launch the Design Challenge. He explained that during his career, he had come across scores of Graduates who were clueless when it came to utilizing their knowledge for designing devices for utilitarian purposes. He reiterated the importance of such events, appreciated the Organizing Committee for ensuring smooth proceedings, and expressed hopes for conducting the event face-to-face mode in near future.