Video of the Week: College Student Forklift Challenge

Teams of Canadian college students were challenged with the task of building a forklift that be disassembled and stored in a box — with a budget of less than $100.

Students Compete in “Vehicle in a Box” Forklift Challenge

The “Vehicle in a Box” competition is the culmination of a two-year degree program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Students who participate in the challenge were studying to be high school shop teachers.

Culmination of Learning

The contest required students to call upon all of the knowledge they have learned during the previous two years in their metal shop, carpentry, automotive shop, computer programming, electronics, and other courses.

They were tasked with building a forklift that could assemble a small bridge and then travel over the bridge. They also were  required to disassemble the forklift and fit all of its parts into a small box.

The students also had to drive their forklift through an obstacle course. At the end of the competition, the students competed in a race to see which team designed the fastest vehicle.

Real World Skills

BCIT instructor Jason Brett said the small budget was meant to teach the students how to work with very little resources, a situation they likely will experience in the real world as high school shop teachers.

It was the 12th consecutive year that the event was held at BCIT. This year’s event was held Wednesday, May 13, at the school’s Burnaby campus.