{"id":3464,"date":"2026-01-16T11:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/?p=3464"},"modified":"2026-01-16T11:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:16:14","slug":"2025-stage-machine-design-competition-showcases-student-innovation-in-entertainment-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/2026\/01\/16\/2025-stage-machine-design-competition-showcases-student-innovation-in-entertainment-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Stage Machine Design Competition Showcases Student Innovation in Entertainment Engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery alignright has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>2025 Stage Machine Design Competition (SMDC)<\/strong> brought together interdisciplinary student teams from across the country to tackle a real-world engineering challenge at the intersection of entertainment and engineering. Hosted by the Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering at Purdue University, SMDC continues to serve as a national platform for hands-on learning, applied design, and industry-aligned problem solving in theatre and entertainment engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3208-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Team 1 from University of Illinois install their prototype. Photo cred Melodie Yvonne.\" class=\"wp-image-3436\" style=\"width:368px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3208-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3208-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3208-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3208.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Team 1 from the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana installs their device.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For the 2025 competition, student teams were tasked with designing a <strong>petal-drop stage machine<\/strong>\u2014a system capable of delivering a visually compelling scenic effect while meeting strict constraints related to safety, repeatability, efficiency, and documentation. Teams were evaluated not only on the final design concept, but also on proposal clarity, installation strategy, technical documentation, and the overall effectiveness of their engineering solutions in a live-performance context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Participating Teams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This year\u2019s competition featured strong representation from multiple institutions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3618-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3449\" style=\"width:349px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3618-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3618-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3618-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3618.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Group shot of all three teams and the expert judges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Northern Illinois University<\/strong><br>Students: Drew Bagby, Emery Foster, Luigi LoCasico, Jorge Serrano<br>Coach: Tracy Nunnally<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana \u2013 Team 1<\/strong><br>Students: Bronwyn Garrett, Dylan Scott, Jack Filpi<br>Coach: Bobby Reynolds<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana \u2013 Team 2<\/strong><br>Students: Rue Zadik, Samuel Lee, Rhys Mix<br>Coach: Eben Alguire<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, a team from <strong>Missouri University of Science and Technology<\/strong> submitted an outstanding proposal but was unable to attend the final competition due to extreme weather conditions. Their work was recognized by the organizers for its quality and thoughtful approach to the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All submitted proposals can be viewed at: <a href=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/3379-2\/\">2025 SMDC | Purdue University | Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Award Recipients<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2025 SMDC judges recognized excellence across multiple dimensions of design and execution:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2690-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Northern Illinois University Team\" class=\"wp-image-3422\" style=\"width:412px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2690-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2690-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2690-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2690.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Northern Illinois University, winner of Best Overall Design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Best Overall Design<\/strong> \u2013 Northern Illinois University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Best Proposal<\/strong> \u2013 Northern Illinois University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Most Elegant Implementation<\/strong> \u2013 Northern Illinois University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Best Design Document<\/strong> \u2013 Northern Illinois University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Most Efficient Installation<\/strong> \u2013 University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana (Team 1)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Most Effective Design<\/strong> \u2013 University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana (Team 1)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The results reflect the depth of technical rigor, creativity, and collaborative problem-solving demonstrated throughout the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Industry Support and Judging<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stage Machine Design Competition would not be possible without the continued support of its industry sponsors, who not only provide financial backing but also send professional representatives to serve as judges. Their participation ensures that student work is evaluated through a real-world lens and reinforces the strong pipeline between academia and the live entertainment industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>THANK YOU to the 2025 Sponsors: Associated Controls and Design, PRG Scenic Technologies, and IWeiss. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2025 SMDC once again highlighted the value of experiential learning in entertainment and engineering education\u2014challenging students to design under realistic constraints, communicate technical ideas clearly, and collaborate across disciplines. The Fusion Studio is proud to support this growing community of students, educators, and industry partners, and looks forward to continuing the Stage Machine Design Competition in future years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.34%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2483-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2483-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2483-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2483-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2483.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2967-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2967-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2967-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2967-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-2967.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3122-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3122-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3122-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3122-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/Purdue-SMDC-12-13-2025-3122.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>*All photography credits to Melonie Yvonne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 Stage Machine Design Competition (SMDC) brought together interdisciplinary student teams from across the country to tackle a real-world engineering challenge at the intersection of entertainment and engineering. Hosted by the Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering at Purdue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":3449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3464"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3468,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464\/revisions\/3468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centers.purdue.edu\/fusion-studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}