Competition and Hackathon Winners
Aspiring engineers and scientists worldwide are winning competitions using MATLAB and Simulink—building technical skills and gaining valuable experience. Take a look at recent champions and their projects and be inspired to enter, compete, and possibly even take home a top prize.
Automotive
South China University of Technology
3rd Place of FSAC, 1st Place of MATLAB/Simulink Modeling and Simulation Award: Formula Student China 2024
The team uses MATLAB and Simulink to develop vehicle dynamics simulations and control systems for dual-motor and four-motor models to assess their effectiveness. They have implemented a Traction Control System (TCS) algorithm with a PID controller to optimally distribute torque and maintain slip rates. Additionally, the team has created efficient algorithms for Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Acceleration Slip Regulation (ASR), Kinetic Energy Recovery, and Power Limitation. MATLAB's advanced data processing, modeling, and simulation capabilities enable in-depth analysis of racing data, helping to identify issues and suggest improvements.
Robotics
Ritsumeikan University
1st place: RoboCup Soccer Small Size League Division B - 2024
The Ri-one team utilized a Kalman filter in the SSL league to eliminate noise from the raw data, thereby improving the accuracy of their simulations. As a result, the team resolved issues such as the sudden loss of coordinate data received by the robots and unstable behavior during stops, significantly contributing to the team's victory.
Signal Processing
The University of Texas at Dallas
1st place: IEEE International Future Energy Challenge - 2024
The undergraduate team at UT Dallas used MATLAB and Simulink to develop a control loop for their Audio Amplifier capable of achieving minimal distortion and noise. They also used Simulink’s Frequency Response Estimator to ensure the system's stability.
Automotive
Rochester Institute of Technology
1st place: FSAE Michigan EV 2024
RIT Racing came in 1st place at the 2024 EV FSAE competition in Michigan. MATLAB's data processing capabilities enabled the team to analyze results from lap time simulations to set key vehicle targets for optimal performance. Furthermore, a custom data-driven powertrain model in MATLAB allowed us to confidently size our accumulator to last for a full endurance.
Automotive
University of California, Berkeley
3rd place overall, 2nd place in AutoCross, 2nd place in Endurance: Formula SAE Michigan Combustion 2024
The team used MATLAB to develop their in-house LapSim script which determined the optimum final drive ratio. MATLAB was also used to validate shifting tank size based on pressure applied and number of shifts required, model the torsional stiffness and vehicle dynamics relationship, and further analyze and interpret the physical test results. Other applications of MATLAB to improve their car engineering included center of pressure calculations, load calculations, and vector analysis.
Aerospace
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
1st place: Airbus Sloshing Rocket Workshop 2023
The AIRSLOTHS team from Naples used MATLAB to design the aircraft model and simulate its flight. The code managed both inertial and aerodynamical properties, giving the team the flexibility to adjust the parameters to maximize the range and altitude reached by the model.
Mexico 2024
- April 25, 2024
ITAM, Mexico
- Winner: Team Nokstella, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
- First runner-up: Team LadyBug, CETYS University, Mexico
- Second runner-up: Team Aeroitam, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México
ICAR 2023
- December 5, 2023
Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi
- Winner: Team AutoDR1, Abu Dhabi University
- First runner-up: Team Eyeliner, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Second runner-up: Team Breeze, Khalifa University
EMEA 2023
- October 27, 2023
Virtual
- Winner: Team QKH, ENSMA
- First runner-up: Team Mambonauts, TXT Group
- Second runner-up: Team Orville, Oxford University
2023 Sustainability and Renewable Energy Challenge
- 1st place: TH Köln, Germany
- 2nd place: Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, India
- 3rd place: Ain Shams University, Egypt
2023 Simulink Student Challenge
- 1st place: Politecnico di Torino, Italy
- 2nd place: Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Egypt
- 3rd place: King’s College London, England
2022 Simulink Student Challenge
- 1st place: Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- 2nd place: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
- 3rd place: University of Southampton, England
HackDavis 2023
- Best Use of MATLAB Award: Jonathan Wang, Andrew Fu, Eric Liu, and Suparn Sathya
- Project name: Drowsy—Sleep Analytics and Improvement Through Technology
MATHACK 2022
- 1st place: Rafael Otero, Alejandro Sánchez Roncero, Víctor Manuel López Higueras, and Pablo Pastor
- Project name: Hacking Better Emergency Response Times with MATLAB Mobile
MATHack Western Cape 2022
- 1st place: Bianca Harber, Gabrielle Liebenberg, and Rosanne Maritz, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
- Project name: Overstock No More!
