UCL Teams win at national finals of the 2022 IMechE Design Challenge

Following their success in IMechE's Greater London Region Design Challenge competition this spring, the first and second-year teams from UCL have brought home the top prizes in the national final of the IMechE Design Challenge.

Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering students were competing with self-designed and manufactured 'Line Launcher' devices, which were required to accurately fire squash balls over a range of distances. Along with prizes for best design, poster, and presentation, the final culminated in a head-to-head competition where teams' devices had to fire at multiple targets with maximum accuracy.

The event at the IMechE headquarters in Westminster was attended by student finalists from across the country, including Durham University, the University of Lincoln, Bournemouth University, Lancaster University and UCL.

On his team's win, Tong Zhang, part of the first-year winning team, said:

“It was a fantastic experience competing against and talking with other university teams at this beautiful place. I believe having the competition as part of our course and having access to MechSpace at UCL has given us a huge advantage."

Shirom Selvaraj, part of the second-year winning team, also noted that:

“The day of the contest was for us a review of all the preparation that brought us to that moment. Starting with the presentation, we had a look back at every design decision we took to reach the final product. The launching competition topped it off by showcasing the results of weeks of work and it was a really exciting moment for the whole team."