South Dakota State HPVC TEAM Dominates at E-Fest West

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Following up their successful runs at the ASME Engineering Festivals (ASME E-Fests) last year, South Dakota State University continued its domination at the Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) this year. Once again, the team was named the overall winner of the HPVC at E­Fest West, which was held March 15-17 at the Fairplex in Pomona, Calif. The student competition was one of several that were hosted at E-Fest West, along with regional rounds of the Student Design Competition, the Old Guard Oral Presentation and Poster Competitions, and the IAM3D Hovercraft Challenge.

More than 550 engineering students, educators and guests attended E-Fest West, which was co-located at the Fairplex with the STEAM Fair—an interactive event intended to introduce K-12 students to the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts and math. ASME was one of the exhibitors at the lively event, which drew more than 20,000 children, parents and other visitors from the surrounding areas.

In addition to finishing first overall at the HPVC at E-Fest West, the team from South Dakota State University placed first in the men’s and women’s drag races, first in the endurance event and third in the design category.
Other teams making impressive showings at the HPVC included the University of Akron, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

CSUN also fared well at the Student Design Competition (SDC). This year’s SDC challenge, “The Pick-and-Place Race,” tasked teams of students with designing and constructing remote-controlled devices that could quickly collect an assortment of balls of different sizes from their stands and place them in a collection area without the balls hitting the ground. The team from CSUN won the event and Colorado School of Mines placed second, while the team from Utah State University took home the third-place prize.

Matthew Muhlinghause of the University of Oklahoma was the big winner at the Old Guard Oral Presentation Competition, which is designed to emphasize the value of being able to deliver clear, concise and effective oral presentations. The second prize went to Claire Teklitz from the Colorado School of Mines, while the third prize went to Jared Lugo from San Jose State University.

Other prize winners at the competitions at E-Fest West included South Dakota State University, which won the first prize at the ASME Innovative Additive Manufacturing 3D Hovercraft Challenge.

In addition to the exciting student competitions, E-Fest West also encompassed a number of other interesting and informative workshops and sessions featuring speakers from companies such as Altair, COMSOL, Siemens, Boeing, and igus. One particular highlight of the festival was the keynote luncheon featuring Danielle Richey, a systems engineer and space exploration architect from Lockheed Martin, who discussed the future of human space exploration. 

This news story was originally published on ASME.org.

Watch 2018 E-Fest East Robot Football competition final round.