Daytona Beach Campus - College of Engineering

Mechanical Engineering Department

Student Clubs

EcoCAR is a collegiate competition which allows students to design advanced technologies into a competition vehicle. This competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM). The purpose is to investigate new technologies in order to explore solutions to the countries growing energy crisis. For more information contact: reinholc@erau.edu.

EcoEagles Team Website



The Formula Hybrid design competition is based on the highly successful Formula SAE program and encourages the development of hybrid automotive drive trains with emphasis on efficient in high-performance application.

Improves efficiency in an automotive drive system can be used to increase fuel economy and performance. Fostering innovation in hybrid drive systems can ultimately benefit society and the environment, even though immediate goal is to improve performance. For more information contact: reinholc@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Formula Hybrid Team Website

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) sponsors a competition in which students design, build and drive an off-road vehicle. The SAE Baja competition is a fun, educational event in which the teams compete in a variety of events. The competition consists of static events and dynamic events. The dynamic events consist of a mud bog test, a sled pull, water maneuverability, suspension test, hill climb, rock crawl, and a four hour endurance event. The static events consist of the Cost Report and the Design Report. For more information on the Woman's SAE Mini-Baja Team, contact: reinholc@erau.edu.

Woman's SAE Mini-Baja Team
Students work together with advice from advisors and teachers to design both chassis and the components of the vehicle. Students involved in the project learn how to use cutting edge technology such as Catia, FEA, and CFD for creating the vehicle’s chassis and components. They will also learn of the manufacturing process which includes use of the 2 CNC mills, CNC lathe, and the hand operated equipment in the SAE lab. The vehicles are driven by students at the competitions.



The autonomous vehicle student competition teams at ERAU provide a perfect forum for the interdisciplinary study of electro-mechanical systems. This broad field requires expertise in computer, software, mechanical and electrical engineering. Students involved in these projects will be engaged in a hands-on, team-oriented program, and they will work side-by-side with graduate students and faculty members. For more information on the Autonomous Vahicle Teams contact Dr. Charles Reinholtz: reinholc@erau.edu.

International Aerial Robotics Competition
An autonomous aerial vehicle (usually rotary wing) must travel 3 km, find a specific building in a small city, identify an open window, deploy an autonomous sub-vehicle system through the window, and identify a target of interest.
Unmanned Aerial Systems Competition
An autonomous aerial vehicle (usually fixed wing) must perform a reconnaissance mission by scanning an area of interest to locate and positively identify a series of ground targets.
Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition
This competition requires an autonomous ground vehicle to traverse both on-road and off-road courses. In the autonomous challenge, the vehicle must stay within a sparsely defined lane. In the navigation challenge, the vehicle must find target GPS locations. The system integration diagram to the left shows the some of the critical subsystems.
International Autonomous Surface Vehicle Competition
Autonomous surface vehicle must navigate through a series of buoys, detect and neutralize enemy posts and rescue a stranded agent from a dock in a harbor along a fortified coastline and return to base.

Embry-Riddle Autonomous Surface Vehicle Team Website