The competition established by Engineers Australia’s Mechanical College and sponsored by Weir Minerals Australia, tests students’ ability to build a real prototype system to solve a novel problem.

Each year the task is based on a fictional, yet “applicable to the real world” set of specific field requirements.

This year students had to build an autonomous machine that could collect resources through a series of obstacles and deliver them to an underground bunker.

Throughout the year campuses ran internal heats to determine who would represent each university at the finals.

This year’s winner was RMIT University, Melbourne. Second went to the University of Canterbury from New Zealand.

The University of Malaysia won third prize.

The Weir Judges Prize went to the University of Canberra, while the Best Design Prize was won by the University of South Australia.