MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) -- On bikes, trikes, scooters, skateboards and go-carts, 250 K-State freshmen showed off vehicles they designed and built for their Intro to Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering course.
The challenge- each of the vehicles had to carry a person and were powered only by small 18 volt cordless drills.
They showed off their creations Tuesday at K-State’s engineering complex.
"They had to investigate the drill, figure out what RPM, what torque it had, look at different possible configurations, evaluate those then do the detailed design work for that. Then the real work is actually implementing that design- how do you go about building these and testing them," explained Greg Spaulding, assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering
"There’s a lot of work that goes into the design project, the design process. We spent countless hours in the shop building," added freshman Emmett Hull.
The class was divided into 35 teams and the teams worked to keep their designs a secret until the big reveal and parade Tuesday.
"In reality, the project was about students learning how to work together as a team, learning about the design process and in the process, learning about designing real mechanical systems," Spaulding told WIBW.
He plans to continue the project annually.
Updated: 06/05/2013 - Riley County’s school district is asking citizens to consider a $12.3 million bond issue to make safety improvements to local schools.
