Built for uOttawa’s John McEntyre Team Space, the project was submitted under the Grand prix télécommandé category.
But before the mini cars even left the starting line, Aïssatou Diallo and her classmates already had one win under their belts: learning that in engineering, solutions aren’t found in isolation.
Design Day is a twice-yearly event that transforms the Faculty of Engineering premises into a true testing ground. It’s as much a celebration as a showcase, capping off the entrepreneurial design courses that see students work with clients over the term to solve real-world problems.
Bringing ideas to life: An experiential learning course for engineers
With guidance from Professor Emmanuel Bouendeu, students took a conceptual design approach. First, they identified the client’s needs. Then, they came up with viable solutions while addressing very real constraints.
“The goal was to have students solve a problem for a real client while working within time, budget and technological constraints,” says Bouendeu.
Team leader Aïssatou Diallo co-ordinated the design work, division of roles and internal communications. “Our success depended on being well organized and having clarity on who was responsible for what, even if we needed to change roles at different points to understand every facet of the project,” she says.
“Our success depended on being well organized and having clarity on who was responsible for what, even if we needed to change roles at different points to understand every facet of the project.”
Aïssatou Diallo
— Student at the Faculty of Engineering
Her teammate Chrispin Niyomukiza oversaw the technical side of things. He recalls spending hours testing the sensors. “The biggest challenge for us was precision,” he explains. “We had to experiment with infrared sensors and an Arduino microcontroller so the system could accurately count each lap.”
After plenty of trial and error, all those hours in the lab paid off. At last, the team had a prototype that would display each car’s number of laps driven, speed and position on the leaderboard.
Tech and teamwork put to the test
As the weeks went on, the team came to realize that success wasn’t just about technology — it was about collaboration, too.
“I thought engineers worked alone, but this project showed me that you come up with the best ideas by working on a team,” says Chrispin.
“I thought engineers worked alone, but this project showed me that you come up with the best ideas by working on a team.”
Chrispin Niyomukiza
— Student at the Faculty of Engineering
For Aïssatou, teamwork made all the difference. “Even when we had to start again from scratch, we stayed positive,” she said. “We knew that part of engineering is learning from your mistakes.”
Bouendeu agrees. According to him, this lesson is exactly what Design Day helps drive home through practical experience: “Collaboration and competition are at the heart of engineering. We’re preparing our students to develop in environments where communication, empathy and resilience are just as important as technical skills.”
In the buzz of the lab, the team navigated through tests, laughs and last-minute tweaks. Along the way, they learned that the real challenge wasn’t to build a perfect system — it was to stick together in working towards that goal.
Bringing the prototype to the track and taking pride in a job well done
When it came time to present on Design Day, all the tension in the air turned into a contagious joy. As their fellow students, their professors and the spectators looked on, Aïssatou and her team had their moment of glory. The cars whizzed around the track, the sensors detected them and the screen displayed live updates on their positions.
“If we’d had more time, we would’ve liked to improve the interface and make the prototype even more visually appealing,” says Aïssatou. “But in the end, we were proud of what we’d accomplished.”
For Bouendeu, this type of experience goes well beyond what a traditional class can teach. “It’s a unique opportunity for students to learn more about themselves, challenge themselves and discover that engineering is, first and foremost, a human endeavour,” he says.
“It’s a unique opportunity for students to learn more about themselves, challenge themselves and discover that engineering is, first and foremost, a human endeavour.”
Emmanuel Bouendeu
— Professor at the Faculty of Engineering
At the end of the day, the team members got to say, “mission accomplished.” Their project had successfully proven that ingenuity and teamwork can drive a big idea across the finish line, even with just $100 to work with.
