Design Challenge 2026: registration open

We are excited to announce that team registration for the 2026 competition is now officially open: deadline for entries is 11 February 2026.

Register your team via the Design Challenge website and get involved in our exciting and highly accessible engineering education competition.

Open to undergraduate engineering students at universities across the UK, we encourage you and your classmates to get involved, have fun, and develop valuable practical skills and experience to compliment your university course and career.

Getting involved is easy:

• Download the 2026 specification and rules
• Create your university team
• Complete the application form by 11 Feb 2026
• Start designing and building your device!

We accept up to two teams of up to six students per entry category from the same university; if you have any questions, visit the Design Challenge website or drop our team an email.

We look forward to welcoming new and returning teams to the competition and seeing how they meet the requirements of the new device specification.

Design Challenge overview

The Design Challenge offers students from universities and university technical colleges (UTCs) an opportunity to experience real-world engineering. It is intended to enhance academic studies and can be completed as part of formal coursework or as an extracurricular activity, offering an accessible pathway to hands-on engineering experience while developing business and interpersonal skills.

For 2026, the full device specification and ruleset for the Design Challenge are already available for teams to get started on their device. This device must simulate a wire rope climbing robot with the potential to perform unmanned non-destructive testing on suspended bridges ropes or depose optic fibre cables on existing over the ground lines. Examples are SKY Wire from Inspection GC, SkyWrap from AFL and others.

Teams must compete in regional finals to show off their work, with the regional finalists coming together to the IMechE’s headquarters to compete in the annual finals, judged and overseen by the IMechE's president and senior committee members.

Could you be part of a winning team? Find out more about the competition, 2026 rules, and how you can get involved.