First year undergraduate students from the University of Portsmouth had a taste of the ‘real world’ this week as they competed against other universities for a spot in the Institute of Mechanical Engineers Design Challenge National Final.
This year’s IMechE Design Challenge Regional Final was hosted by the University of Portsmouth on Tuesday 26 March.
Nine students from the Faculty of Technology competed in the Regional Final which enabled them to gain real-industry experience, practical employability skills and enhanced business and people skills.
The students competed against teams from Southampton, Bournemouth and Plymouth. Each team had to design, build and test a device to climb up the outside of a 2.2 metre-tall copper pipe, lifting an increasing load in the form of a chain.
The IMechE Design Challenge is a great opportunity for our first year engineering students to get involved with real engineering applications and learn how to design and build a working device, manage time and costs as well as work as a team.
Each team battled to gain a spot in the National Final, which will see the winning team travel to the IMechE headquarters in London and compete against teams from other regions for the top spot.
Dr. Antigoni Barouni, IMechE Academic Liaison Officer for University of Portsmouth said: “The IMechE Design Challenge is a great opportunity for our first year engineering students to get involved with real engineering applications and learn how to design and build a working device, manage time and costs as well as work as a team.
“We saw many brilliant student designs from all institutions that participated and exceptional engineering solutions.
“It was a great experience for me to organise and host the regional final competition. I feel honoured that I worked with such a great team of students and I’m very proud of them and the results they delivered.”
Not only did the teams have to create a fully operational device, they also produced a poster based on their device and delivered a presentation on what they did and why they did it.
Both teams just missed out on a podium place, with University of Plymouth coming first and securing a place in the IMechE Design Challenge National Final.