USC Engineering students of Mechanical Design are pitting their creative wits against each other to design and build the best catapult and Olympic torch.

Course coordinator and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Selvan Pather expects lots of concentration and a few laughs tomorrow, Wednesday 23 October, when the student teams compete on campus at Sippy Downs.

Dr Pather said each team would design, build and test a device that could throw table tennis balls over a 60cm-high barrier at targets. The models had to be constructed from balsawood, balsa cement, string and a base board, and be triggered remotely.

The full-size torch models, which were designed and fabricated for a hypothetical Southeast Queensland Olympic Games, would be displayed in USC’s Visualisation Studio along with coursework such as perspective sketches of aircraft and polyhedral shapes.

“There are some amazing pieces of engineering art in their exhibition,” said Dr Pather, who has also designed a new Mechatronic Engineering degree to start next year at USC Moreton Bay.

The Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronic) (Honours) focuses on the technology behind every remote-controlled garage door, self-parking car and automated production system – a blend of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computing and the systems that control them.

Applications are still open to study at USC, including USC Moreton Bay, in 2020.