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Bright Manufacturing Challenge 2025
Design. Fabricate. Compete.
October 19 - 23, 2025
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
Rosemont, Illinois

The Bright Manufacturing Challenge is an immersive, hands-on experience where student teams will design, fabricate, and test a custom printed circuit board to serve as the control center for a robot.



How the Bright Manufacturing Challenge Works

Teams
The challenge is a multidisciplinary, team-based competition designed to simulate a real-world engineering product development cycle. Teams will consist of 2-5 individuals with cross-disciplinary skills:
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PCB Designer
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Embedded Programmer / Firmware Development Lead
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Mechanical Builder / Integrater
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Team Coordinator / Communications Lead
Project Rounds
The challenge is broken into four primary rounds, each with deliverables, checkpoints, and learning outcomes.
Rounds include:
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Round 1: PCB Design
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Round 2: Fabrication DFM Review
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Round 3: Assembly - Planning and Preparing for Board Population
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Round 4: Final Integration and Robot Challenge
Challenge Benefits
As a participant in the challenge, you will recieve:
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One-Year Altium Designer License
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Professional Design Training
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Industry-Standard Documentation Practice
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Mentorship and Review Support
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Recognition and Awards
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Bragging Rights for Your College or University
Round 1: PCB Design
$1,000 cash prize!
Open to anyone who would like to participate
Overview:
Students must carefully design a PCB that will serve as the brain of the robot challenge. The key focus is ensuring the layout is functional, efficient, manufacturable, and clean.
Additional Challenge: Each team can modify the Base design, adding a key feature. This feature will be judged.
Note: Basic PCB Shape and layer stack must be maintained. Each team must purchase any additional components for the added feature.
Deliverables:
o Design Summary Document (1–2 pages)
o Schematic (Added Team Feature)
o PCB Layout Files
o Full Fabrication File
o Full Assembly Package
o Design Rule Check (DRC) Report
o PDF Outputs
When:
July 1 - 31, 2025


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