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Bridge crushing and robot sumo wrestling: welcome to Engineering Week!

Annual event features competitions and showcases
March 3, 2015
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By Andy Fidel


At the Troitsky Bridge Building Competition students from across Canada make bridge parts out of Popsicle sticks, white glue, floss and toothpicks before submitting them to "the Crusher." At the Troitsky Bridge Building Competition students from across Canada make bridges out of Popsicle sticks, white glue, floss and toothpicks before submitting them to "the Crusher."

Concordia’s Engineering Week runs from February 28 through March 8 on the Sir George Williams campus. Here’s a preview of the highlights.

Troitsky Bridge Building Competition

Concordia has been hosting the Troitsky Bridge Building Competition since 1984. To compete, students from across Canada and abroad make bridge parts out of Popsicle sticks, white glue, floss and toothpicks, which they bring to Montreal to assemble during the event.

After presenting their bridges to their peers and the competition’s panel of judges (made up of industry professionals and faculty members), they submit them to the Crusher. Teams are judged on the aesthetics and originality of their bridge designs, their display booths, team spirit, and the ultimate load carrying capacity of their spans.

“There’s a lot of adrenaline,” says Micha Kindarji, vice-president of the competition’s organizing committee. “People are very excited to get their bridges under the Crusher. Bridges explode under pressure.”

Students from all departments are invited to the main event, the “Crushing Ceremony,” starting at noon on Saturday, March 8, in the Alumni Auditorium (H-110).

Breakfast and Society Days

Throughout the week, Engineering students are invited to start their day off with a free breakfast, served in the B-Annex (2160 Bishop Street). It’s a great chance to meet other engineering students before heading off to class.

Society Days, another regular component of Engineering Week, was held on Tuesday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 4. It provides an opportunity for students to discover or re-discover the 16 active societies and clubs within the Engineering and Computer Science Association (ECA).  Members are on hand to showcase projects they’ve been working on throughout the year.

A graduate of Concordia’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nicholas Zacchia is now working toward his PhD at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. A graduate of Concordia’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, guest speaker Nicholas Zacchia is working toward his PhD at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics.

Guest speaker Nicholas Zacchia

This year’s edition of Engineering Week will feature a talk by Nicholas Zacchia at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 5 in Room 3.210 of the John Molson School of Business Building (MB).

A graduate of Concordia’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zacchia is now working toward his PhD at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, where he is studying ways to develop new tracers for medical imaging. He will discuss what engineering students can hope to accomplish with their degrees.

Robots battle it out

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE Concordia) just hosted its second edition of Robowars. Contestants had to build their own autonomous robot, with the only parameters being that it had to fit into a 20 x 20 cm square, and weigh no more than 3 kilograms.

“It’s like a sumo fight, except with robots instead of people,” said Michael Segev, former president of IEEE Concordia and current Robowars organizer.

This robot fight was not remote-controlled. Participants had to use onboard circuitry — a chip called a microcontroller — to program their robots with a sort of artificial intelligence.

“They have to be autonomous,” Segev says. “That means, once you turn them on, you can no longer communicate with the robot.”

To win Robowars, participants must have their robots push the other robot out of the arena. The robot that manages to stay within the boundaries wins. The competition gives engineering students an opportunity to build an embedded system and to show off their passion for the field.  

“It’s really a test of how well the machine is designed, and how well it’s programmed,” Segev says. “It puts together a lot of different skill sets.”

“In engineering, anything is possible,” says Tristan Cool, director of competitions at IEEE Concordia. “We pride ourselves on introducing new students and giving tutorials.” 

Students don’t have to be in their final year to participate. They can join a team or find a mentor. IEEE Concordia gives tutorials at the B-Annex. The group also hosts an open lab five days a week where students can come and ask questions and make use of the equipment.

“Sometimes it’s really important to leave the classroom and find that community of thinkers,” Cool says.


Learn more about what’s going on at Concordia’s Engineering Week.
 



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