The remote-controlled vehicles that raced through the corridors of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology use a relatively unconventional drive: compressed air. Each of the eleven cars was built by a team of high school students who accepted the challenge of delving deeper into the secrets of technology. In the Pneuracer competition, the first year of which took place on Thursday, June 6 at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the best place was taken by the team of SPŠ and VOŠ Brno Sokolská.

The Pneuracer competition is the brainchild of students and employees of the Institute of Machine and Industrial Design. For many years, they used to build large racing pneumobiles. After the international competition ceased to exist, they were looking for a way to maintain their know-how and pass it on. "That's why we have directed our efforts to the new high school competition Pneuracer. We want to show students that technology is fun and all they can learn in a similar project: knowledge about pneumatic systems, 3D printing, electronics... The key is that high school students can try everything in practice and can also compete," explains Michal Michalec, one of the organizers of the competition.

Teams, consisting of three to five high school students, could register for the competition until the end of 2023. Subsequently, they were given the task of developing a conceptual design for their vehicle. They could rely on the knowledge from several training courses they had the opportunity to attend, as well as consultations with a mentor assigned to each team by the organizers.

Out of thirty designs, the fifteen best advanced to the next round of the competition. "There are different ways to convert compressed air into mechanical energy. In the first round of the competition, we intended to prevent solutions that would not stand a chance to work well. Then, we supplied the advancing teams with materials according to their requirements, for example, they received electronics, pneumatic and structural parts or filament for 3D printing. And during the construction, they could continue to use consultations with a mentor," says Michalec.

The resulting vehicles are not large, generally about the size of a microwave oven. The students mostly tried to build their car around the air cylinder that drives it. "This is a very clever concept because it saves weight on the structure, which can be a decisive factor in the range. Some teams took it very seriously and tried hard to tune the cars as much as possible. In many cases, they did not even use some of the components offered and developed their solutions. We are happy that the students are so enthusiastic about it," says Michalec.

Eleven brand-new vehicles finally arrived on the final day. And most importantly, more than forty students are ready to fight for the best possible position. In addition to material prizes, the best of them were also granted a waiver of the entrance exam to the Bachelor's degree at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

"Everyone has the same conditions in terms of input energy: a one-litre bottle of compressed air, pressurized to seven bar. Then it's just a matter of the efficiency of their solution, how much energy they can transfer to the wheels of their car," says Michalec, adding that the final races had three disciplines. "The first was the maximum range per bottle. The second is a classic circuit – because they are remote-controlled cars, the students showed how they can operate them. The last discipline was sprinting, i.e. who can cover the distance the fastest," Michalec explained.

The winner was the "S4B" team of students of the Secondary Industrial School and Higher Vocational School of Brno. The performance of the GymTri team in the maximum range, when they drove an incredible four hundred meters on a one-litre bottle of compressed air, deserved appreciative applause from everyone. The silver position was taken by the SHM Club Krucemburk team and the imaginary bronze went to the aforementioned GymTri team of the Třinec grammar school.

The main partner of the competition is SMC Industrial Automation CZ s.r.o.