MECHA Design Challenge

MECHA's flagship event MDC (MECHA Design Challenge) is back again this year with a fresh and unique engineering task: build an Aquabot capable of navigating three obstacle courses and impressing our judges in a design presentation.

Contestants kicked off at 9am for this one-day sprint, diving straight into designing and building with piping, clothes hangers, pool noodles (and lots of duct tape) to create an aquatic robot that could tackle our challenges. Efficient prototyping, creative innovation, and strong teamwork were all essential for success.

This year’s technical brief required teams to work with three waterproof motors paired with an Ethernet-based control system as the core of their navigation setup. Beyond those required components, students had full creative freedom, including access to 3D printing, custom fixtures, unique buoyancy solutions, and whatever clever mechanisms they could dream up.

A huge congratulations to Team Cup O’ Cabbage for taking first place and securing the cash prize with their engineering ingenuity and well-executed design!

Overall, it was a high-energy, hands-on, and genuinely fun day for everyone involved. It was amazing seeing all the unique solutions taken through design, prototype, test stages before they finally faced the courses in HIWA pool.

MECHA extends a massive thank-you to NZ Aquabots and the HIWA Sport and Rec team at the University of Auckland for their support, guidance, and for providing key supplies and space that made this event possible. We couldn’t have done it without you!

2026 Winners: Cup O' Cabbage with Judge Keegan from our 2025 Sponsor, Crown Robotics.