FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Department of Mechanical Engineering is hosting the inaugural 2016 IMA Design Competition, beginning April 5.

As part of the mechanical engineering course, Introduction to Machine Analysis, student teams will design and build mechanisms and compete in a head-to-head battle. Evaluated by industry leaders, the teams will be judged on several aspects of their design, including an oral design review and a design notebook where teams present and defend their designs.

During this double elimination tournament, teams will compete directly with one another, with the winners advancing to the second round of competition where first, second, and third place winners will be announced. The first round competition is on April 5 and the final round is on April 12.

Both days of competition begin at 2 p.m. in the Donald W. Reynolds Center Auditorium and are open to the public.

The project theme for spring 2016 is “Pigskin Prototypes – a Celebration of the Razorback Football Tradition.” 

The spring 2016 competition includes 37 teams of sophomore students.

In order to compete, student teams design prototypes and field mechanisms to score in three different ways:

• Recruiting by gathering golf balls from the field to their home team.
• Raising the boot by actuating a belt and pulley system.
• Launching golf balls into an elevated bowl.

Judges will give students feedback on their design process, strengths, and weaknesses immediately after their round of competition and encourage them on ways to improve their design. 

This event is sponsored by Dassault Falcon Jet, Brasfield & Gorrie, Caterpillar and NUCOR-Yamato Steel.