Third European MCU Car Rally at embedded world 2017

The 2017 competition marks the first time that Renesas will hand out an Innovation Award for the team that adds the most creative and advanced enhancements to the microcontroller (MCU)-based model car in terms of design, construction, technology, ecology and performance. For example, students may swap the sensor that guides the car along the track for a camera.

Since the first rally held in 2015, the participation has grown from 16 teams and 96 students to 30 teams comprised of 150 students. They worked on their designs for a full semester in preparation for this year’s race.

The competition gives final-year engineering students the opportunity to develop a real product using state-of the-art solutions from Renesas, including the RX Family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) that combine excellent operation performance with superior power efficiency. The 30 teams include students from universities in Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and the UK.

Renesas is organising the rally together with its UK-based Platinum Alliance Partner, AND Technology Research, which is providing technical support. “We are extremely proud to be part of such an exciting community project by providing support to the teams,” says Dr Valerie Lynch, CEO of AND Technology Research. “The students’ works are truly creative and technically sophisticated. In turn they inspire us to expand the challenge and introduce new features.”

For many participating teams, the Renesas MCU Car Rally event has become a highlight in their year. Their colleges and universities consider the students’ works on the Renesas rally cars as bona fide coursework, so that professors award the students points for the completed project that count towards their degree.

“This competition excites us every year and we’re always very impressed with the students’ technical skills, creativity and professionalism,” says Andrea Nuyken, Project Manager of the MCU Car Rally at Renesas Electronics Europe. “It also gives us the opportunity to meet some of tomorrow’s top engineering talent in Europe.”

Renesas Electronics Europe is a Platinum Sponsor of the embedded world Student Day, held on the last day of the show and attracting over 1000 students every year. The company will hold practice runs, heats and finals for the competition on the Student Day – an exciting highlight in its show presence and a veritable magnet for visitors and spectators.

The Third European MCU Car Rally competition for students at embedded world 2017 will start on 16th March 2017 at 10:00 in the Foyer (at Entrance Mitte) just in front of Hall 1.