The annual Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) took place from February 3rd to 5th at the University of Toronto. The competition pits engineering students from across Ontario against each other in six categories of competitions ranging from team design to debate. Over 250 students competed in the event, with Waterloo’s delegation consisting of 40 individuals representing nearly all disciplines.
The competitions began on Friday night and continued well into Saturday. The University of Toronto’s Bahen Centre was abuzz with activity as several hundred competitors, judges, and industry partners filled the building for the competitions.
After all the presentations and demonstrations wound to a close on Saturday afternoon, the judges deliberated, after which there was nothing one could do to change the outcome of the competition. The whole OEC delegation headed to the Atlantic Pavilion at Ontario Place for the awards banquet where the final debate between the top two teams took place on the resolution that the Iron Ring is more important than the wedding ring.
Dinner was served, and after everyone was satiated, the awards presentation began. First, the awards for consulting engineering were announced with teams from Guelph, Windsor, and McMaster taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places respectively. Teams in Consulting Engineering were tasked with responding to a Request for Proposal from the City of Toronto to implement a congestion pricing system within the Greater Toronto Area.
Team Waterloo picked up their first award of the night when Erin Matheson finished second place in Engineering Communications for her presentation, “Developing Techniques for Surgical Treatment of Brain Aneurysm.” The other awards in engineering communication went to Carleton for first place and Toronto for third place.
Awards in Innovative Design proceeded after Engineering Communications which, at this point in the night, it became clear that Waterloo was going to have its strongest OEC showing in many years. In Innovative Design, teams present innovative solutions to problems. However, not only are teams required to explain their project’s engineering aspects, they must also discuss its economic feasibility and present a preliminary business plan. Waterloo not only took second place in this category, but took first place as well. Congratulations to the first place team of Dhananja Jayalath, Neil Olij, Chris Wiebe and Ryan Mann for their “Muscle Activation Detection Suit” project. The second place team of Ilia Baranov and Melvin Ng will join the first place team at the Canadian Engineering Competition this March in Vancouver.
Waterloo’s dominance did not stop there: 1st place in Junior design was awarded to a Waterloo team consisiting of Kumar Singh, Drupadh Manjunath, Ayush Kapur and Dhrumhill Parikh. Teams in Junior Design had to develop a solution to remove spilled toxic waste and prevent spillage in the future from a hillside beside the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. This team of four Waterloo engineers were the only group within their presentation room to have a fully functional prototype.
Teams in Senior Design had to design an automatic trash collection machine that would be implemented in a residential setting. The machine had to automatically detect and pick up trash, detect objects on a road, and automatically dump the trash in a designated receptacle. Teams were given Lego Mindstorm sets and had to completely build, program, and test their robots in 8 hours of build time. The Waterloo Team consisting of Nevin McCallum, Cody Prodaniuk, Jeff McClure and Maple Leung had a nearly flawless demonstration which won them 2nd place in this category,
In all, Waterloo had at least one team place in the top two in four out of the six categories of competition. Waterloo competitors took home over $10,000 in prize money and one of two special awards for Technical Excellence which was awarded to the 1st place Innovative Design team. This is the second year in a row the technical excellence award has been won by Waterloo competitors.
Congratulations to all Team Waterloo winners at OEC who will be travelling to Vancouver for the Canadian Engineering Competition in March of 2012!
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