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The Faculty is delighted to offer our congratulations to Steven Davey, Brendan-John Vernall and Christopher Pratt , second year Mechanical Engineering students, who won the national 2009 Warman Competition .

The students took first prize from a field of 17 teams from Australia and New Zealand. Their winning device was praised by the other teams and the judges of the competition for its imaginative design concept, effectiveness and simplicity.

The Warman Design-and-Build Competition, now in its 22nd Year, sees second year Mechanical Engineering students from across Australia and New Zealand design and build devices to a specification set each year as part of their undergraduate degree programs.

Groups of up to four Mechanical Engineering students descended on Sydney on 25 September following their wins at their campus trials to compete in the National Final.

The brief for the 2009 competition was to design, build and prove a prototype device in a laboratory environment that serves to automate a relay baton exchange. The exchange was to happen on a wooden competition track built for the purpose. The track for 2009 was L-shaped and about 5m long.

Students built two devices: one started the "race" with the baton, at one end of the L shape. The other device started the race at the corner of the L. The first device had to pass the baton to the second one, and remain in the corner area. The second device was to carry the baton to the far end of the track.

To make the competition more interesting, the scoring system rewarded solutions that were light and fast; also one of the devices had to be entirely non-electronic. There were also many conditions on the size, motion and interactions of the devices.

Steven, Christopher and Brendan, with their absent colleague Mark relentlessly refined their reasoning and device, and their final design was praised by many at the finals for its innovative approach and simple design.

To read more about the Competition please visit the website .

On the photo from the left: Steven Davey, Brendan-John Vernall and Chrisopher Pratt, the winners of 2009 Warman Competiton.

Media references

Magdalena Matuszczyk / [email protected] / 6488 4277