Bangladesh wins both first and second places at the IMechE Speak Out for Engineering (SOfE)-2020 Southern Asia Regional (SAR) competition held on 18^thApril 2021. The event was organised on a virtual platform using pre-recorded speeches. There were two contestants representing each country Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh as shown in the table.

Further, there was a representation from each country for the panel of judges thanks to the virtual format of the competition. Despite the technical challenges, it was a tough competition as participants were bringing in a lot of knowledge, skills, and passion. The SAR Young Member Chair, Piyush Sethi, was instrumental in organizing the event successfully.

The winner, Mr. Tausiful Islam (Bangladesh), was presenting on the topic of ‘ANTS Aerial Systems’.

Abstract of Tausiful’s presentation:

“Freedom-71 is a lightweight fixed-wing Unmanned Aircraft (UA) designed principally for carrying and delivering aid packages to emergency response situations. Equipped with visual artefact detection capabilities, F-71 also possesses the ability to locate people in danger. Capable of fast assembly and transportation, the F-71 is the ultimate solution for fast-paced aid delivery and danger assessment. Contributively usage in possible four sectors (package delivery, agriculture, emergency response & journalism) is considered the system’s primary focus. The presentation was included plans (business & establishment) of collaboration with emergency response services, blood banks, courier companies & hospitals as target market recipients.”

The runner up was Samira Tasnim, again from Bangladesh, who presented on Biomimicry.

Abstract of Samira’s presentation:“From large aircrafts to miniature robots, biomimicry has offered humans a vast area for research and development. There are many examples of biomimicry in various fields. I am passionate to know about Sailfishes which are the fastest in the oceans, she believed. Their properties help them to flow with less drag-coefficient and the air-bubble of their scales make them lighter. I started to study sailfish properties by designing a model and running simulations on it and background study is very much concrete. I designed a prototype (Simulation) that will help the ships to be faster and have less fuel consumption.”

IMechE SAR congratulates all contestants, judges, and participants for their contributions to make the event colourful. The SAR chair, Chanaka Wanniaarachchi, congratulates the winner to do his best in the SOfE Global 2020 competition.