LTU vs EATON: EMPwr Corporate Challenge Project

eWeek was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951. Typically held the third week in February, the goal of eWeek is to ensure a “diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers.”

The Entrepreneurial Engineering Design Studio champions eWeek by facilitating engineering-related activities. These activities would not be possible without support from EMPower, Tau Beta Pi, Society of Women Engineers, the LTU Library, ESD, IEEE and LTU Career Services. The LTU eWeek Design Challenge is the culmination of eWeek activities.

The first eWeek Design Challenge was held in 2016. The challenge pits design teams made up of LTU students versus design teams from Eaton. The challenge begins by introducing the “Problem Statement” to all teams. Teams are then given approximately 25 minutes to develop a design idea. This ideas are pitched to the challenge judges. Utilizing the judges’ feedback, the teams use the next 1.5 hours to turn their ideas into a prototype. The completed prototypes are then displayed to all. Participants and guests vote for their two favorite prototypes. The team with the prototype having the most votes is declared the eWeek Design Challenge winner. The 2016 winner was LTU.

In 2019, two teams from Eaton competed against two teams from LTU. The 2019 Design Challenge problem statement was, Redesign/innovate a recreation/leisure item of your choice:

• Sports
• Travel/vacations
• Video games
• Cooking Etc.

Four great designs were presented. However, in the end, Eaton engineers came out on top in 2019 with their “smart dial” design. The smart dial turns older appliances into smart appliances.