Spring 2017

We aren’t, we aren’t, we aren’t, we aren’t, we aren’t just the Engineers

Engineering Design Teams

Lindsay Glofcheskie

What is a design team?

Design teams are student run clubs that are typically based in the Sedra Student Design Center on the bottom floor of Engineering 5 [1]. Some of the teams have their own bay on the ground floor, and some have certain rooms dedicated to their design work. With the construction of Engineering 7, there will be twenty new garages available for teams that need them [2]. There are twenty design teams, each of which focuses on a certain challenge. That challenge could be aerial robotics, concrete canoes, or even submarine racing, and some are in competition with student teams at other universities. The teams are completely student-based, which means that students do all the work. Students manage every aspect of these design teams: finding sponsors, concluding the final design and partaking in the competition.

Why should you join them?

All of the design teams allow members from every faculty to join, but not all of the teams currently have members from other faculties. Many teams look for students from different backgrounds to offer different perspectives on their projects: maybe a Fine Arts or Digital Design student to help with aesthetics, or a business student to help with marketing. Students are not limited to roles that match with their major: teams are always looking for extra hands and knowledge on every aspect of their challenge.

Design teams give you hands-on experience with any aspect of the project that interests you [3]. You can help do something related to your degree, or you can be adventurous and be a part of something that you would not gain experience with otherwise [4].

Depending on your availability, you can join teams and participate in them for as little as an hour each week. For students who have a relatively flexible schedule, there are leadership opportunities that you can apply for: leadership roles require a much larger commitment.

What kinds of design teams are there?

Right now there are twenty design teams run out of the design center. They include [5]:

1. Baja

This team builds an off-road, single seat vehicle that undergoes durability and endurance tests on a custom made off-road course. Their design focuses on hardiness and re-usability, using materials that will last for as long as possible through even the toughest conditions.

2. Bridges to Prosperity

This team creates custom footbridges to connect disadvantaged communities to important resources. They create highly detailed maps of the construction area and do their best to incorporate materials from the surrounding area in their designs.

3. Concrete

Depending on the time of year, this design team builds a canoe completely out of concrete, or a toboggan whose driving surface is made of concrete. Traditionally the team was populated by the graduating civil engineering class, but they have since opened their doors to students from all faculties.

4. Engineers for Hope

A design team that strives to design and build sustainable engineering projects to improve people’s lives in disadvantaged communities for as long as possible. They decide what would benefit specific communities best and then help to make that idea a reality.

5. Engineers without Borders

A devoted team that works towards the improvement of lives everywhere.

6. Formula

The Formula team focuses on making the best all-around formula race-car to compete in events that include business presentations, fuel economy tests and endurance events. Most teams in this competition focus on one aspect of their car, making it the fastest, or the best at handling, but UWaterloo is known for making the car the best all-around.

7. International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM)

This team focuses on rewriting biological processes using engineering techniques. Their team is divided into 4 main sub-groups that each have their own step in the design process, from designing the machine, to mathematically modelling it, to making sure it follows policies, to tracking the financials. Each of these groups makes sure that iGEM reaches its goals.

8. Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun builds a car that is solely powered by the sun. The car competes in extremely long races to push solar power to its limits. Recently they have changed their one driver approach to a cruiser style vehicle that can carry two people.

9. Robotics

Robotics is a little different as they decide which robotics competitions they want to compete in around the world each year. Recently they were working on a robot to simulate an autonomous vehicle working on Mars.

10. Rocketry

This team is made of literal rocket scientists making a real rocket for a yearly competition. They design, prototype, and test components of the rockets of the future, from fuel formulation, to nose cap specifications. Rocketry is pushing the envelope to get into space.

11. Steel Bridges

Over the semester, this team designs a modular bridge to be set up within a set time limit that will hold a certain amount of weight. On competition day, the team races to build the bridge within the time limit. The bridge must span a certain distance, be a certain height and able to hold a specified amount of weight. The team will digitally model their bridge to make sure it holds the right amount of weight, identify the best places to put those weights and then put them on the bridge themselves.

12. University of Waterloo Alternate Fuels Team (UWAFT)

UWAFT is currently working towards the ecocar 3 competition with a fully electric vehicle. Their current car is a redesigned Chevrolet Camaro that will run as efficiently as possibly on only electricity.

13. Autonomous Sailboat

One of the newer design teams that is currently working on a sailboat that will sail itself through a variety of challenges. They are planning to compete in the International Robotic Sailing Regatta in Maryland.

14. Clean Snowmobile

This team rebuilds snowmobiles with the goal of reducing their environmental impact. They look at all aspects of the environment and all the ways that they can minimize the impact. They think about things that usually are not recognized, like light and sound pollution, and things that matter the most, like the waste from snowmobiles.

15. Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group (WARG)

WARG designs and builds unmanned aircraft to remotely perform different tasks. They have to make sure their vehicles are capable of taking off, flying, landing, and completing their given task without any human interaction.

16. Institute of Industrial Engineers

This team is part of an international institute tying industrial engineers together. Teams from the universities involved meet up once a year to compete in industrial engineering related challenges.

17. Satellite

The Satellite team is busy constructing a small satellite that will serve on a year-long sub-orbital mission. Over the course of 2 years, the team has to propose, manage, and build a fully functional satellite to complete a science mission in our atmosphere.