The Student Team Open House was held on Wednesday the 14th, and gave the teams a chance to show off their hard work and attract a few new team members. The event was held in the E5 Student Design Center, which allowed visitors to take a look at the area where the teams actually built their designs. Here are a few of the student teams on display, in no particular order.
Concrete Toboggan Team
The team builds a concrete toboggan each year to compete in the 4-day Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race. They not only design the toboggan to be fast and brake quickly, but also have the ability to maneuver easily and weigh less than 300 pounds.
Aquaponics Team
This student design team, part of the UW Sustainable Food Production, aims to build and run a fully functional aquaponics system. The basic principle involves connecting a fish tank to vegetation growth bed, and using the fish to fertilize the plants. In addition, the plants are used to clean the water. The team is not just looking for people with technical skills, but anyone who is interested in sustainable food production.
UW Robotics
As the name suggests, the UW Robotics team is a collection of multi-disciplinary students expressing their love for robotics. They aren’t restricted to just one project, but work on several throughout the year. UW Robotics also frequently enter competitions such as the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition and the University Mars Rover Challenge.
Formula Motorsports
The Formula Motorsports team has one goal when designing their car; to be fast. They’ve succeded in building a world-class race car, and enter it into Formula SAE and other Formula competitions. Recently they participated in events in Michigan and Barrie.
Baja SAE
Every year the team designs, builds and tests an off-road vehicle to enter into the Baja SAE competitions. During these races, teams compete in events testing their speed, acceleration, manoeuvrability and endurance. They’ve been racing for the last couple of decades, and have just returned from a competition in Oregon.
Formula Hybrid
The objective of this team is to build a formula hybrid car that is environmentally sustainable and highly efficient. Founded in April of 2011, the team recently entered the Formula Hybrid competition in New Hampshire. The competition builds on the above mentioned Formula SAE.
UW Clean Snowmobile Team
The Clean Snowmobile Team strives to build a snowmobile that is environmentally friendly while still maintaining efficiency. They recently participated in the 2012 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, and came first in acceleration, and won numerous other awards. Congratulations! They are also planning to participate in the Toronto Snowmobile Show in October.
Midnight Sun Solar Team
One of the more eye catching student team creations is the Midnight Sun X solar-powered car. It took 200+ students three years to build the car, which can go up to 90km/hr. They participate in various solar competitions, including the Veolia World Solar Challenge, where they competed against teams from countries like Japan, Turkey and the Netherlands.
They are plenty of other student teams that I didn’t have the finger endurance to mention, teams like the UW Micro Aerial Vehicle Team, UW Alternative Fuels Team, and the university branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). They are constantly looking for new recruits, regardless of technical skill level or faculty.
Leave a Reply