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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. 

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How the Bright Manufacturing Challenge Works

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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:
 

  • 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:

 

  • 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:
 

  • 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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Further Questions?

Get in touch by filling out the form. We’ll respond as soon we can.

Thanks for submitting!

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Registration Deadline: June 20, 2025

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