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Over 1,000 students will compete in Texas this weekend for a chance to build Hyperloop pods

map hyperloop design weekend

This weekend, Texas A&M University will be hosting SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition’s “Design Weekend”. Over 1,000 students and engineers forming 124 teams are competing for a chance to build their own Hyperloop pod prototypes and race them at SpaceX’s upcoming test track.

The Design Weekend teams were selected by SpaceX from hundreds of entries to present their concepts to a panel of SpaceX, Tesla and university judges for a chance to build and test their design prototype. The final phase of the Hyperloop competition will be held in the summer of 2016 once SpaceX and its contractor Aecom will have completed its 1-mile test track.

The judges will hold 12 judging sessions throughout the weekend to then award more than $250,000 in cash for technical excellence and sponsor support to help the selected teams construct their pods for the race.

In a press release from the university, Nick Hemstreet, computer engineering major and part of Texas A&M’s HyperWhoop team, shares his excitement:

“I’m nervous. I don’t like waiting and now that we’ve submitted it I just want to know. But I’m mostly excited about talking to industry people about how to improve our design and walking around and talking to other teams about what they’ve done. We really haven’t gotten much public feedback yet, so finally letting everyone see what we’ve been working on is going to be great.”

Several companies actively working on commercial hyperloop projects will also be present during the ‘Design Weekend’, including maker of the Hendo hoverboard Arx Pax and Hyperloop Technologies Inc.

You can visit A&M’s website for more information and the schedule of the event.

 

 

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