Name: Waikato Engineering Design Show
Start: 15/10/2025
End: 16/10/2025
Location: University of Waikato Hamilton campus

2025 Waikato Engineering Design Show (EDS): 15 - 16 October 2025

The annual Waikato Engineering Design Show is the high point of our internationally-recognised professional engineering degree programmes. At this event we showcase the incredible innovations, gizmos and projects of the University of Waikato's amazing professional engineering students.

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Projects and Competitions

Every year our students excel in designing, building and testing new products, structures and solutions in response to real-world problems that matter to people, both in New Zealand and overseas.

Each year at EDS we have a two-day schedule packed full of exciting competitions, pitches, presentations, and all the fascinating final year projects in strategic areas such as robotics and automation, energy and food, advanced materials, structures and infrastructure, geotechnical engineering, smart electrical and AI, and water and wastewater challenges.

Schedule

DAY ONE - Wednesday, 15 October 2025

Design Competition activities

1:00pm - 1:15pm	Welcome to the Engineering Design Show
1:30pm – 2:30pm	Mechanical Engineering (Yr 2) - Innovative Nutcrackers Students have been tasked with designing and building a working prototype of an electrically powered nutcracker. Prototype demonstrations will occur at the Design Show.	Inside The Pā – Front of the bleachers
2:30pm - 3:30pm	Civil Engineering (Yr 2) – Timber Pedestrian Bridges Students have been instructed to design and build full-scale two-metre timber pedestrian bridges and will test these in-person at the Engineering Design Show. The bridges must be able to hold two people in the centre, then safely fail when a third person steps aboard.	Outside The Pā – Front of Wharenui
3:00pm – 4:00pm	Mechatronics / Electrical & Electronic Engineering (Yr 2) – Smart Autonomous parking vehicles The challenge involves designing a vehicle that will autonomously park, including building the car’s steering mechanism and ensuring it can safely identify where it should park among full and empty slots. The fastest team wins!	Inside The Pā - Front of bleachers
4:00pm – 6:00pm	Chemical Engineering (Yr 2) - ChemECar Challenge Students must design and build a car powered by chemical reactions that can carry a 500g load up to 30m, with the distance revealed on competition day. This challenge tests their ability to model and predict the energy released from chemical reactions to drive the car.	Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library
4:30pm – 5:30pm	Mechanical / Mechatronics Engineering (Yr 3) – Seedling harvesting machine Design students and Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering students must create a machine that automatically races from the starting line to harvest seedlings, sorts them into 'pass' and 'fail' and deposits them in two boxes back at the starting line. The most accurate and fastest machine wins!	Inside The Pā - Front of bleachers

Demonstrations and displays

2:00pm - 6:00pm	Software Engineering (Yr 2) – The Beachbot Challenge Students were tasked with creating a robot assistant for Mount Maunganui, displaying useful real-time information such as UV index, tide times, events and safety alerts.	Inside The Pā - Te Kōpūroa
	Mechatronics Engineering (Yr 4) – Robot teach and repeat This challenge involves automating an assembly and packaging line, coordinating two robot arms to assemble custom-designed parts. Audiences can interact with one joystick-controlled robot arm, which will automatically coordinate with the second arm to replicate movements and grab a part.	Inside The Pā - Te Kōpūroa
	Electrical & Electronic Engineering (Yr 1) – Solar powered cars Teams are building race cars powered solely by light and capacitors. The top-performing cars will be showcased on display.	Inside The Pā - Te Kōpūroa
	Environmental Engineering (Yr 2) The project involves designing gas collection and treatment systems to remove contaminants before power generation, building a simple prototype gas scrubber in the lab.	Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library
	Environmental Engineering (Yr 3) The goal is to design a 4-tank sequencing batch reactor system for leachate treatment—helping manage landfill sites and prevent toxic waste from entering our waterways.	Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library
	Civil Engineering (Yr 3) As part of a real-world project for external client Ocean Flyer, teams are designing passenger and freight infrastructure for sea gliders operating out of Tauranga. The aim is to introduce the first of their fleet in 2027!

DAY TWO - Thursday, 16 October 2025

Demonstrations and displays

1:00pm - 3:30pm	Electrical & Electronic Engineering (Yr 1) – Solar powered cars	Inside The Pā - Te Kopuroa
	Software Engineering (Yr 2) – The Beachbot Challenge	Inside The Pā - Te Kopuroa
	Mechatronics Engineering (Yr 4) – Robot teach and repeat	Inside The Pā - Te Kopuroa
	Environmental Engineering (Yr 2)	Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library
3:30pm	Student Award Ceremony
4:00pm	Closed for private function