Autumn project

In the Autumn term, the students all work in groups on the same brief to design and manufacture a functional device.

For over 15 years, the project was the same: to design and build a pump which could shoot water vertically and fill a bucket as quickly as possible. In the last decade, the projects have varied year by year and have included e-scooters, miniature motorised cars, catapults, compressed gas-powered cars, drivetrains for an F24 car and even devices to prevent the extinction of gibbons.

Timeline of projects from previous years

2025: The students were tasked to design, manufacture and assemble a drive transmission which had to fit onto the chassis of an electric F24 car in order to reduce its speed.

2024: An ambitious, exciting and authentic brief in partnership with New Scientist and Lego as part of the Build the Change competition (https://build-the-change.newscientist.com/).

During the competition, school children were challenged to come up with ideas to help save the gibbons and their habitat. Their art pieces were then given to the DMF2 students who were tasked with interpreting them and then building a working prototype. Instead of one project as usual, there were five options: a rope bridge, a food dispenser, a safe house, a cable car and a claw arm. The school children and their parents visited the Department in November to check in on progress, and then again in June for the main testing event.

2022 – 2023: The students had to design, make and race a fully mechanical miniature car powered by compressed gas. They were provided with four wheels, a valve and a canister, and they were allowed to purchase transmission elements. In 2022, the canister was small volume with high pressure Carbon Dioxide, while in 2023 the canister was of a larger volume but with low pressure air.

2021: Students were asked to design and manufacture a so-called gravity-light: a reading light powered by a suspended mass that is slowly lowered

2018 - 2020: The students designed, built and tested a miniature motorised car to perform a speed race as well as a torque challenge along a track. They were given four wheels, an electric motor, a battery holder and batteries, and they were allowed to purchase a limited range of standard transmission elements.

2017: The students had to design catapults that propel their payload as precisely as possible over a distance of 11 meters.

2014-2016: The students designed and raced electric scooters.