Build18

APPLY FOR BUILD18!

WHO ARE WE?

"Build18 is where creativity, curiosity and engineering intersect. It's a chance for every innovator at Carnegie Mellon — every student and faculty member with a passion for invention — to make and break things together in pursuit of new ideas." - Cyrus Tabrizi

We are an annual engineering festival held by the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and run by students. Build18 was founded out of the belief that curriculum is too structured - there just isn't enough room for simply tinkering with electronics and making cool stuff. Hope to see you soon!

Yinz Bus

Matless DDR

Flex 'em Wrecks 'em Robots!

Guitar That Only Plays Wonderwall

PROJECT GARAGE

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Have more questions? Contact an officer or send us an email at build18@ece.cmu.edu! Join us on our socials @build.18 for the latest information.

You can make your account now! Look for follow-up emails in the Fall semester to propose your project.

5 people.

2 people.

Nope! We allow and encourage multidisciplinary teams. Teams may be composed of any major.

We allow as many teams as we have funding for. In the past, we have had around 100 teams of 2-5 people each.

As long as it does not break any laws or cause people harm you should be good to go. However, if your project uses dangerous chemicals, high powered lasers, etc, then the officers may place extra restrictions on your team in order to ensure safety during build week. In general, however, projects are not restricted to a certain theme or field.

Historically, the budget has been $250, with an additional $50 bonus if all the parts are ordered from preferred vendors. If your project needs additional funding, consider applying for an advanced track.

When your team submits parts, you are expected to list the price before shipping and tax. Both shipping and tax are covered by the officers. Naturally, the budget after this is simply the sum of the price of each of your parts. One slight complication arises from the fact that the prices of parts from some vendors can vary wildly over time (e.g. Amazon). In general, the officers will try to respect the price of the part at the time you submitted it on the parts list. So, your team won't be on the hook if the price of your part changes between the time you submitted it and when the officers ordered the part.

We strongly encourage teams to order parts through the officers, as the reimbursement process is long and painful for both the teams and officers. However, you are welcome to provide your own parts. If you want to order parts on your own, then you are responsible for making sure you stay within budget, and the cost of tax and shipping is not covered by the officers. Additionally, ordering on your own will void any preferred vendor bonus.

If you chose to order parts on your own, or need to reimbursed for any other reason, then the process works as follows. After Build Week ends, the officers will send out a reimbursement form for your team to fill out. Through this form, you will submit copies of your itemized receipts of your purchases. In order to be fully reimbursed, you must submit an itemized receipt for each of your purchases. This means that the receipt cannot simply be a total; it must contain an amount for each item on the receipt. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in your team not receiving a reimbursement.

For whatever reason, either because you forgot some parts, your parts broke while you were building project, or some other unforeseen reason, your team may need to order parts after the submission deadline. If this is the case, be sure to reach out to the officers ASAP. The officers may be able to rush order you the parts so that you can complete your project on time. These are handled on a case by case basis, but generally, the price of the part will simply be taken out of your budget.