Teams of students from Southampton, Teesside, Sunderland, Central Lancashire, Liverpool John Moores (LJMU), Brunel and Middlesex universities, representing four regions, competed against each other in the Design Challenge Final 2015.
Adhering to a strict technical brief, each team had to design and build a device to climb a pipe carrying a section of chain - an increasing load. Teams were also aiming to get their device to descend in the fastest time.
In addition to the dynamic test and design review, teams were also judged on the merits of their presentations and posters.
The event had a dramatic photo-finish, with both LJMU and Teesside University vying for line honours. LJMU was victorious and the team was presented with the David Ball Trophy - named after the founder and Chairman of the Design Challenge.
Dr David Ball CEng FIMechE Eur Ing, who posed questions to teams at the final along with Dr Colin Brown, the Institution's Director of Engineering, explained the premise of creating a mechanical engineering competition for first-year students.
He said: “We set up the Institution's Design Challenge to complement university education, and because first-years lacked a tailored Institution competition to engage with. The challenge provides an opportunity for practical application of the theoretical knowledge that students gain at university. We want to encourage graduates to be people who can think for themselves, and find effective engineering solutions when faced with a challenge or problem.”
Members of the winning team from LJMU, Huw Davies-Cooke and Jamie Bowers, said: “The competition required us to be creative and think outside the box. We will need such skills to solve the engineering problems that we will face in our careers.
"Also, we were pushed out of our comfort zones, doing a formal presentation in front of the other universities, judges and members of industry, to justify our decisions and calculations. We really enjoyed the competition socially and academically, and also observed how people from other universities approached the same problem but with different outcomes.”
The judges included Dr Helen Meese, the Institution's Head of Engineering in Society, and Neil Hinchliffe, Business Development Executive and Defence Liaison Officer.
Dr Jack Mullett, Senior Lecturer, Department of Maritime and Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, LJMU, was the team’s academic supervisor.
He said the Design Challenge provided “an excellent learning experience for all those who participate”. He praised the technical ambition of the competition, as well as the demands of the design, presentation and poster, and the value of peer-to-peer learning and teaching across teams and regions.
Dr Mullett added: “I believe that this is all part of being a great engineer: the ability to take on difficult or unsolved engineering problems that require the application of fundamental scientific principles and theoretical understanding - and then, figuring out how everything works together in the system through an engineering design process to produce real, unique, practical and reliable solutions.”
Feedback from 21 of the participants at the Finals showed that 90% and 95% respectively felt the poster and presentation elements were a valuable part of the competition; while 95% said that the competition “exposed them to the real world of engineering”.
David Ball continues to work hard to extend the reach of the Design Challenge. More UK regions will be taking part in the 2016 regional heats, enabling additional universities to participate. Earlier this year, the first Design Challenge in Shanghai took place, which is due to be repeated in 2016.
A competition for second-years is being piloted in the Greater London Region in March 2016. Following feedback from that event, a programme for second-year students to continue to apply their learning is expected to be rolled out nationwide.
David said that the winners of regional heats displayed a consistently high standard, but that making mistakes simply provided further opportunities for learning.
He added: “When you speak to the teams after the event, when you ask them if they could start again with the benefit of hindsight, you find that they have observed and gained knowledge from their actions and choices. If they had the chance to do it again they would do things differently – and that’s learning.”
Find out more about the
Design Challenge.