IIT Chainless Challenge Team

Five MMAE undergraduates—Bob Meyer, Dan Milewski, Sean O’Halloran, Josh Buck, and David Moreno [left to right in photo]—finished third overall in the Parker Hannifin [Corporation] Chainless Challege, held the week of April 7 in Irvine, Calif. This marks the second time IIT has participated in the invitational event, whose objective is for teams to replace the chain of a bicycle with a fluid-power-driven system.

Ten teams were invited to compete, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, and the University of Minnesota. The competition featured six design categories, three performance categories, and best paper/presentation. IIT won all six design categories, placed second in endurance, and fourth in the sprint race. The IIT students designed and built the bicycle completely on their own time and were the only team that did not use the competition as a project for their senior design course.

Assistant Professor Matthew Spenko served as IIT advisor. Congratulations to the team for an amazing performance!