Waikato Engineering Design Show
Register, check in, and win prizes at EDS 2025!
Enter the EDS Competition! Register and check in on the day for your chance to win awesome spot prizes!
Register now for EDS 2025!
Prizes include
| Electronic Brain Box Clip Circuit Project Kit | Set includes fully illustrated and easy to follow instruction manual. You can create over 50 different electrical circuits and devices. Also, learn about motors, switches, sound and light. |
| 12 in 1 Solar & Hydraulic Construction Kit | The solar and hydraulic powered robot can be transformed into twelve different animals and mechanic robots. Suitable for children age 8+. |
| Air Power Engine Car | Suitable for children age 10+. |
| Hydraulic Cyborg Hand | The Hydraulic Cyborg Hand simulates the movements of a human hand using hydraulic power for mechanical transmission without electricity. It allows every finger joint to adjust at different angles for a precisely closed fist or open palm. Suitable for children age 10+. |
| Soft Tube Robotic Arm | Stem experiment. Unleash full-angle and boundless flexibility in every move. Suitable for children age 12+ |
| Dino-Bot T-Rex | Box contains components of the robot T-Rex to assemble and illustrated manual for the assembly instructions. Suitable for children age 5+. |
| Waikato University Hoodies |
Available in all sizes. |
Schedule
At EDS, our action-packed two-day event features thrilling competitions, pitches, presentations, and cutting-edge final projects in robotics, energy, materials, infrastructure, AI, water, and more.
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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Environmental Engineering (Yr 2) - Development of a Gas |
Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library | |
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Environmental Engineering (Yr 3) - Development of a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) |
Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library | |
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Civil Engineering (Yr 3) - Design of Passenger and Freight Infrastructure for Sea Gliders in Tauranga 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! |
Inside The Pā -outside Te Kōpūroa |
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 Kōpūroa |
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Software Engineering (Yr 2) – The Beachbot Challenge |
Inside The Pā - Te Kōpūroa | |
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Mechatronics Engineering (Yr 4) – Robot Teach and Repeat |
Inside The Pā - Te Kōpūroa | |
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Environmental Engineering (Yr 2) - Development of a Gas |
Outside The Pā - between The Pā and Library | |
| 3:30pm |
Student Award Ceremony |
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| 4:00pm |
Closed for private function |
(See demonstration and display descriptions on Day One schedule)
Engineering at Waikato
Waikato proudly boasts a full complement of professional engineering degree programmes, underpinned by Engineering NZ accreditation, offering excellent choices for students across New Zealand eager to pursue a career in this exciting and growing industry.
