Mechanical engineering students Heidi Johnston and Rebecca Kresta are representing the U of A Faculty of Engineering at the Western Engineering Competition in the "Re-engineering" category.
Edmonton-When fifth-year engineering students Rebecca Kresta and Heidi Johnston travel to the Western Engineering Competition this week, they'll have to flex some creative muscle in an unusual engineering contest.
The two are part of About 20 U of A engineering students are attending the annual event, being held this year at the University of British Columbia.
The two are representing the U of A in the "Re-Engineering" competition, in which teams are given a product or device that already exists and challenged to re-engineer it for a different purpose. For example, to qualify for WEC, U of A engineering teams were asked to turn a toaster into a kettle that could boil a cup of water.
"Part of the challenge is safety because intuitively you're thinking "this is not OK" but it was a fun competition," said Kresta.
A second task teams were asked to take on was to convert a small school bus into an apartment. The two mechanical engineering students designed an apartment that cold still drive and used a flat hot water tank that helped heat the living space during cold spells. By adjusting the amount of water in the tank, they also regulated the temperature inside the mobile apartment.
"I think what put us ahead was that we came up with is a way that might work but is more of a unique solution," said Johnston, adding that in such competitions, you tend to see many variations on the same ideas. "We wanted to find a way to make our design stand out."
Organizers of the Vancouver challenge have sent teams from across the West part of their challenge: they have been asked to come up with another use for street lamps. These devices dot our landscape but serve just two functions, providing light and a place to mount signs.
The team will have that project well underway by the time they arrive at the competition-and then they'll be given a second challenge.
"They'll give us another challenge and we will have eight hours to work on and come up with a solution and report on it the next day," said Kresta, adding that reports can only be one page long-presenting a communications challenge.
Both students say they're also excited about technical tours and a career fair, and having the chance to mix with engineering students from across Western Canada.
About 20 U of A engineering students are making the trip, competing in junior design, communications, redesign, innovative design, consulting and debate categories. If successful at WEC, teams will move on to the Canadian Engineering Competition and connect with students from across Canada this spring.