LINCE Facens (Laboratory for Innovation in Student Competitions) has prepared for a promising 2020, with many competitions and breathtaking tests! In March, for example, the Baja Mud Racing team participated with an entirely new car in the 26th National competition in São José dos Campos. However, the Coronavirus pandemic arrived and left everyone at home, unable to compete in person. But LINCE is driven by adrenaline and, as always, innovated! Some of the modalities have adapted to the new reality and held their competitions, or part of them, in the online format.
The StrongerTech team participated in a virtual competition organized by Ibracon, Concregame, in which the teams participated in a question and answer game about concrete and its technology. Of the 14 teams registered in the Championship, StrongerTech took the fifth runner-up!
The Omegabtoz team also participated in an online competition. In July, the team was first runner-up at RSM Virtual, the first virtual and international robotics competition. In addition to participating in an online robotics competition, Omegabotz innovated and launched the Facens Beta Challenge – Competition for hockey-mini robots. The championship was a pioneer in its category, in addition to debuting the second official hockey arena in the country and with the participation of national and international teams, being broadcast live by Facens Play.
The B’Energy team, Facens’ electric car, was prepared for an unprecedented competition for the team in California! However, with the postponement of the competition, the team participated in an online event that simulated the project, costs and business plan in relation to the car. In addition, B’Energy started a new project for the electric formula: in 2021 it starts the development of a hybrid electric prototype with Fuel Cell technology, powered by hydrogen for the Ballard H2 Challenge. This challenge is an initiative of SAE Brasil with the company Ballard, manufacturer of the Fuel Cell.
For 2021, the teams are already warming up the engines. As the face-to-face competitions were postponed, some stages were transferred to online and have already taken place this year, such as the presentation of the project on video and the fulfillment of engineering challenges proposed by the organization.