Ready to race

university-of-waikato

Mon May 27 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Ready to race

Monday, 27 May 2013, 11:38 am
Press Release: University of Waikato

27 May, 2013

Ready to race

It may not quite be petrol head heaven, but some of the fastest cars to come out of the University of Waikato will hit the track when the annual Mechatronics Cup is held on 4 June.

The track will be the black, plastic one set up in an electronics laboratory, where slot cars designed and built by fourth year electronics students will go head to head in a competition of speed, reliability and stickability.

Professor Jonathon Scott says the students have spent about four weeks designing and building their creations and while they’ll be judged on speed “they’ll get extra points for any clever things they incorporate into their cars”.

Despite having only a short time to come up with their cars, Prof Scott says many show better design characteristics than commercial slot cars.

Aside from a standard chassis, the students have built everything else on the cars, which are controlled digitally, meaning the cars have to decode the data being sent from the hand-held controller and respond accordingly.

About a dozen cars will go head to head for the cup, which has previously been competed for with a range of whacky electronics challenges.

ENDS

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