About the challenge
Illinois Design Challenge 2023, presented by Chart Industries, is a fully in-person engineering and product design hackathon at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Check out our website for the event schedule, registration information, and more!
Requirements
What to Create
Participants must create a design solution to 1 of 3 design challenges (outlined in the Info Packet). The design must accurately meet all requirements and constraints of the challenge, and clearly solve the needs of the target audience selected. Emphasis will be put on projects that accurately identify and meet all user needs, rather than overly complicated or highly technical work.
What to Submit
- All CAD files, including assemblies, parts, etc uploaded to a GrabCAD Community project.
- GrabCAD Community: https://grabcad.com/dashboard
- Any renders, including pictures and videos, of your design
- A writeup outlining
- The problem you chose to solve
- Your target audience and their user needs
- Technical design features (and how they meet your users' needs), major iterations in your design, and what inspired your design choices
- A user story/walkthrough of how your solution will be used
- Real-world feasibility (manufacturability + estimated costs)
- Next steps/areas of improvement
- If you want to showcase your project during closing ceremony, a link to a slide deck (Google slides or powerpoint) to be used. You may work on the slides after the submission deadline, until 4pm on Sunday, but the link must be provided at the time of submission. Showcase presentations must be under 5 minutes and signups are first-come first-serve
Prizes
First Place in Open Challenge
First Place in Accessibility in Mobility & Transportation Challenge
First Place in Chart Industries Sponsored Challenge
Second Place in Open Challenge
Second Place in Accessibility in Mobility & Transportation Challenge
Second Place in Chart Industries Sponsored Challenge
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Joseph De Jong
Rotational Engineer, Chart Industries
Michelle Gohlke
Emerging Leader, Chart Industries
James Smith
Rotational Engineer, Chart Industries
Simon Zhang
Josh Katz
Vidit Sharma
Alice Mei
Judging Criteria
-
Originality/Innovation
How novel / out-of-the-box is the solution? -
CAD Design Completion
Is the design complete?- Using fundamental engineering principles/ knowledge to meet all criteria -
Feasibility
How plausible is the design in both the present and the future? -
Safety
How safe is it to be used / maintained? -
Clarity/Informativeness
Was the information presented useful? Additional information that added value? Did it directly answer the question? Was there unnecessary information? Rendering of CAD. -
Functionality
Does the design effectively and efficiently provide a solution to the given problem statement? -
Manufacturability
Design is able to be manufactured in as few operations as possible and provides great consideration for ease of manufacturing. -
Accessibility (Accessibility Challenge)
To what extent does the design provide support to a disabled individual? -
Problem Statement (Open Challenge)
Does the project attempt to solve some sort of problem? (what is the problem?, why is it a problem?, who does it affect?) -
Extensibility (Open Challenge)
Is the design able to be extended in the future? -
Cost (Chart Challenge)
Design is highly cost-effective and provides exceptional consideration for material cost/consumption. -
Durability (Chart Challenge)
Design demonstrates potential for exceptional durability and considers environmental factors in design. -
Ease of Use (Chart Challenge)
Design is extremely user-friendly and requires minimal training to use. -
Size/Storability (Chart Challenge)
Design is compact and can be stored easily with special consideration for storing multiple of the design together. -
Bill of Materials (Chart Challenge)
Bill of Material is exceptionally comprehensive and accurate, with no missing parts or errors.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Tell your friends
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

