Design Engineering Competitions

International Bicycle Parking Design Competition Seeks out New "CityRack"

The New York City Department of Transportation is holding an international CityRacks design competition for a new bicycle parking system in the City of New York. The competition focuses on both in-building bike parking and sidewalk racks that will hold cycling up as an easy and environmentally friendly transportation option.

New York City currently uses thousands of CityRacks, which are variations of fabricated square steel tube that take up little sidewalk space and don’t interfere with the flow of city life. But according to the City, the CityRack has been used for over 10 years and can’t continue as an NYC icon to promote cycling as a preferred and convenient means of transportation. The City will use the winner of the sidewalk rack competition as its new bike-parking standard, and Google will install the winning design for the in-building rack in its NYC headquarters.

The CityRack does seem economical in terms of space — but I’m sure there are better materials and designs that could both improve the space situation for bike racks in New York and encourage City commuters to regularly rely on their bicycles for transportation. Perhaps a vertical design could be a solution, stacking bikes on top of one another rather than side-by-side. And maybe there is a durable material out there that could retract when bicycles aren’t inside it — a flexible material that would still be durable enough to last indefinitely, and maintain its integrity in both sweltering summer months and frigid winters.

What materials or designs do you think would contribute to the most effective bike rack, in terms of space and usability? Find out more about the competition and upcoming registration dates, and let me know if you’re entering a design in the competition.

	CityRack bicycle rack design

RoboCup Fosters Engineering for Large-Scale Disasters

When I think RoboCup, autonomous robots kicking soccer balls indoors is the first image that springs to mind. But there’s a lot more behind RoboCup than I realized. 

RoboCup aims to use RoboCupSoccer to create a fully autonomous team of humanoid robots that can beat the human World Cup champion soccer team by 2050. But using the technologies originally developed for this challenge to essentially contribute to society is the main goal behind RoboCup. The organization developed RoboCup-Rescue to use RoboCup technologies in assisting search-and-rescue teams during large-scale disasters. RoboCup cites the Great Hanshi-Awaji earthquake in Kobe City, Japan as the "trigger" for RoboCup-Rescue. The organization has since developed urban search and rescue (USAR) robot competitions and a rescue simulation league aimed at emulating disaster phenomena.

RoboCup-Rescue focuses on several levels of disaster management – everything from teamwork coordination to, of course, actual autonomous robots for search and rescue. And the organization’s efforts have spawned related competitions including the Virtual Robots Competition, where participants actually simulate robotic behavior and The ALADDIN Project, aimed at dealing with coordinating the autonomous robots and using sensors to gather readings for uncertain disaster situations.

Competitions Prep Future Engineers with Ultimate Design Challenges

Our Crisis in Engineering Education coverage series, addressing the state of engineering education today, focuses on educational alternatives and what it takes to get ahead in an increasingly demanding engineering workplace. One way engineering students can prepare for their future careers is by participating in a design engineering competition or contest. These challenges serve as real-world experiences for competitors, encouraging the practice of necessary workplace skills including ingenuity, inventiveness, time management and teamwork.

That said, welcome to Design News‘ Design Engineering Competitions blog! Here you’ll find the latest news on engineering competitions and challenges happening all over the globe. Check back frequently for daily updates on upcoming events, competition winners and even information on deadlines for entry materials. You’ll also get an up-close and personal look at competitions as they occur, as I share my conversations with participating teams and competition organizers.

Are you or is your company involved in an upcoming engineering competition or challenge? Do you have past experiences in competitions you’d like to share? Share your thoughts: Email me. And don’t forget to check in with our Design Engineering Competitions and Challenges coverage page for more news, a calendar of events, podcasts and video from the competition floor.