In May, as our spring semester was drawing to a close, Prof. Greg Spaulding hosted the 3rd annual ME101 Design Project “Drill Powered Vehicle” Competition. As the event title indicates the student teams are tasked with designing and building a vehicle that they ride that is powered solely by a cordless electric drill. This year the competition went off-road and the competitors tried out their designs in grass, on concrete and dirt, and over hills and small obstacles. In addition to the off-road event the vehicle also competed in sled pull and endurance events.
Each team is composed of 6 freshmen, the team is also assigned a mentor from the Senior Design Class. During the semester this freshmen team designs and builds their vehicle. In addition to the design and build the students conduct two design reviews for their mentor. During these design reviews the students provides a written report and and oral presentation of the project status. Two critical skills that the teams develop during this project are teamwork and taking a project through the design process.
Over 60 participants presented their designs in three different categories. There was a tie for Overall Winner in the competition this year’s competition, the teams that earned this year’s full bragging rights are:
Team 1 – Lee Evans, James Kelty, Brycen Hassell, Cain Blaha, Sullivan Bohren
Team 4 – Samantha Hecker, Nathan Cheney, Chris Sharlow, Brett Quiason
Congratulations to all the participants in this year’s competition.