Institution news
The project for this year was a ‘line launcher’; that could propel a ball through a variable distance. This module had teams participating from universities all across Pakistan. Being the flagship event of the IMechE Pakistan Group, the industry-oriented competition has always championed the ideals of innovation and creativity in pursuit of engineering excellence. This year’s rendition brought with itself new challenges, especially as it required an unprecedented shift to an online medium. The challenges were met with determination and resilience, resulting in a successful event.
The Abul Kalam Design Challenge thrives on cooperation from the industry and academia alike. As such, the event was attended by well-regarded and accomplished professionals; whose combined experience and expertise elevated the occasion. Moreover, members from the Institution were also present, including those from the Executive Committee. The esteemed Founder of the IMechE Design Challenge, Dr David Ball also graced the occasion with his presence from the United Kingdom.
The competition
This year was somewhat different from the earlier events due to its virtual nature. The competition was divided further as sub-categories:
- Poster competition: where the students made a poster giving an overview on the task.
- Report competition: where students wrote a detailed report about their task.
- Presentation competition: where the students gave a presentation on how to go through the task.
The posters and reports had been submitted and marked beforehand, and so the live event involved viewing the presentations by each team, followed by a question and answer session. Through these stages, the participants experienced a complete product development cycle and had it reviewed by a panel with diverse experience in the industry and academia. The submitted projects of each team were judged in various departments including effectiveness, viability and appeal.
The competitors consisted of teams from various reputed universities across the country:
- UET Taxila team - Ali Hasnain, Sana Fatima, Mohamed Asad, Maria Masood and Aasma Bibi
- NUST-PNEC team - Taimur Shahzad, Mirza Fayzan, Abdul Mateen and Umar Sultan
- DSU team - Muhammad Ibrahim, Basil Nagani, Mirza Muhammad Ali and Khwaja Moin Ud Din
- NUST-SMME team - Abdul Moiz, Qasim Zafar, Muhammad Ali, Haris Saif and Bilal Ahmed
- GIKI team - Hamna Saeed, Aima Ahmad, Filza Shoaib and Laiba Bilal.
Results
In the end, the winners were declared: the team from the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, H. A. L. F, was the second runner-up, that from the University of Engineering and Technology, Tech Titans, was the runner-up. The winning team was from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (SMME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Roketx.
Winner: Roketx form NUST SMME
Runner Up: Tech Titans from UET Taxila
2nd Runner Up: H.A.L.F. from GIKI
The proceedings closed out with addresses from the honoured guests, who praised the teams’ efforts and highlighted the importance of such platforms from an industrial standpoint. Furthermore, they lauded the event administration for pulling off a successful event in the midst of a pandemic. The post-event discussion involved discourse from senior members of the industry about the practical applications of the line-launching device. Aside from marine operations, the device is also of use in rescue operations within the power and fertilizer industry, and in material shifting during shutdowns. With its conclusion, the event propels the IMechE Pakistan Group as the forerunner in adapting to the new normal and showcasing how future virtual events should be handled.
