Teams from Senior Design, a two-semesters-long capstone class for mechanical engineering majors, entered their class projects into competition this year.

Team Aeronuts’ radio-controlled plane took home second place in the Advanced Class category at the SAE International Aero Design 2010 West competition March 5-7 in Van Nuys, California. The Aeronuts led the first seven rounds of competition, but, like all but one of the teams, couldn’t get their plane’s electrical system to read its take-off distance, a new requirement for the 2010 competition. Their plane did outperform in the lifting challenge. It lifted 27.7 pounds to win the Heaviest Payload Lifted Award.

Concept Zero’s fuel-efficient car placed fourth among the 10 UrbanConcept contenders (40 Prototype cars made up the rest of the 50 cars that participated) at Shell Eco-marathon in Houston, Texas, March 27 and 28. The annual event challenges college and high school students to design, build, and test energy-efficient vehicles. The team that goes the furthest distance using the least amount of energy wins. Unlike the futuristic-looking Prototype-category cars that dominate Eco-marathon, UrbanConcept cars look similar to what you see on today’s road.

NYU-Poly Supermileage will compete on June 10 and 11 in the SAE International Supermileage competition in Marshall, Michigan. Supermileage dares engineering students to break fuel-economy records with small, four-cycle engine vehicles.  This will be the first time NYU-Poly students compete in the 31-year-old competition. Team captain Yuri Shnirman says that the team wants to place in the top ten. To get there, they’re shooting for a 1,000-mpg performance.

Entering class projects isn’t requirement for Senior Design, in which students conceptualize, design, fabricate, and test vehicles. Other Senior Design projects included a helicopter and an autonomous waste sorter.