Year of Engineering and Aeronautics to take centre stage at Imperial Festival

Engineers will celebrate the Year of Engineering in the Enginuity Zone at this year’s Imperial Festival.

On 28 and 29 April, Imperial College London’s world-leading engineers will showcase their ingenious inventions, harnessing the talents of researchers, students and alumni.

The Year of Engineering will feature in Imperial Festival’s Enginuity Zone, next to the Aero Zone where the historic Department of Aeronautics will celebrate their centenary.

Both zones will feature pride of place on Imperial’s historic Queen’s lawn.

In the main Exhibition Road entrance's Robot Zone, guests can challenge our robot colleagues to a game of football, use mind control to bend (virtual) spoons, and watch ideas take flight in our state-of-the-art drone flight arena.

Enginuity: What’s on offer?

Imperial engineers are renowned for solving problems. They combine principles in physics, chemistry, medicine, and the life sciences, to help individuals and society.

This could mean anything from measuring quakes on Mars to 3D printing a kidney, or developing a self-driving, self-navigating wheelchair to help people with impaired mobility.

At the Festival, budding engineers can help Imperial celebrate by learning to perform robotic surgery or make music with their minds. Guests can see our Smart Baby Buggy that warns visually impaired users of oncoming hazards such as vehicles, pedestrians and curbs through vibrations in the handlebar.

Car nuts young and old can experience a zero carbon racing car and control car making robots. The Festival will also fan the flames of inspiration with mini fire tornado demonstrations.

The fashion-conscious can even engineer themselves some happiness by donning a vibrating wrist band that harnesses inbuilt ‘happiness’ responses to rhythm.

Aero and Robots

In the Aero Zone, guests can learn about the emerging use of drones, see turbulence with their own eyes, and understand the science of ground-breaking lightweight materials widely used in aerospace.

The main entrance to the campus will be dedicated to our robot colleagues old and new. Guests will see how intelligent artificial systems really are, and how they can help doctors diagnose disease, predict human behaviour, and help individuals reach their potential with active goal keeping.

The Year of Engineering is a year-long celebration of engineering. The UK government has pledged to work with hundreds of industry partners throughout 2018 to encourage young people and their parents to take a closer look at engineering.

Imperial Festival will be held on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 April at Imperial’s South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AZ. It is free and open to the public. To attend please register in advance.