Engineering Design Award
A team of second-year students from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science has catapulted its way to top spot at a major design competition.
The team of four students finished first in the junior design division at the 2017 Western Engineering Competition held in Banff, Alberta January 12 – 15. The Western Engineering Competition has been around since 1985 and brings together leading students from across Western Canada to “practice and exhibit their problem-solving, team-building, and communications skills.”
The prototype was required to be designed from typical craft items. The catapult outperformed all other university teams at the Western Engineering Competition in Banff.
Competitors were given four hours to brainstorm and build a prototype, which would aid search and rescue missions in the mountains surrounding Banff. The goal was to deliver supplies to stranded people before rescue personnel could arrive.
That was a tall order given the prototype was to be made from typical craft materials such as popsicle sticks, plastic cutlery, string, cups and clothespins.
The catapult was required to shoot supplies to a target at least six metres away. The U of R team outperformed all others, achieving a distance of a mere 14 centimetres from the target.
The U of R sent seven teams and a total of 22 students to the competition.
The U of R students were able to compete in Alberta thanks to the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan, the Regina Engineering Students Society and the University of Regina Students Union. The students will now represent the University of Regina at the Canadian Engineering Competition at the University of Calgary in March 2017.
ABOVE: (l-r) Emma Fraser, Kaylee Hayko, Kailey Lowe and Tennille Kowalchuk. Photo courtesy of Mike Konieczny