Engineering students have fun and games in the Great Hall

Over 120 first year students from the School of Engineering took part in a fun, hands-on design project in the Great Hall recently.

The students were given a brief to design a gravity fed rollertrack that would take a golf ball and a tennis ball along a trackway.

(Left to right)David Hooson,Tim Winch and Kay Johannessen

They were asked to design a mechanism that would rupture a compressed air container (a balloon) and then drop the two balls into a comestible storage device (a biscuit tin).

Prizes were awarded for the most convoluted and ingenious design which achieved the required objectives.

The exercise forms part of the Professional Skills module taught by Jack Bradley to demonstrate teambuilding skills.

Jack said: "It is a good idea to use students to teach students teambuilding skills."

Dr. Hughes, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Engineering, said: "It is so important that engineers and technologists think of their subject beyond the technical discipline and consider how they are going to implement such technology. Exercises such as this are invaluable in beginning the skills development process."

The event was popular with the students. Kay Johannessen, a Mechanical & Automotive Engineering Student, from Krageroe in Norway said: "The Rollertrack exercise was fun. We had two ideas and everyone agreed which design to go with to burst the balloons."

Ferhan Khan a Virtual Design & Innovation student felt the exercise brought out the best in people's creativity.

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