In-Class Team Design Competitions – The Mechatronics Example

External team design competitions continue to be popular with students, from Formula SAE racing to Sunrayce Solar vehicles. It is generally accepted that the hands-on design, build and test activities inherent with these projects provide students with invaluable experience for their future careers as engineers. In this paper, examples of two in-class team design competitions are given. Both examples are mobile robot based competitions held in courses in mechatronics engineering as offered by instructors in mechanical engineering. It is claimed that the in-class competitions have similar benefits to external competitions, but have a greater impact as they involve more students