Design Competition is an interdisciplinary challenge open to all Northwestern undergraduate students. The task is to build an autonomous robot that can traverse a course designed by the Executive Board and whose theme varies from year to year. Participants have their entire academic year to work on their designs, and each member may receive up to two independent-study research project credits (not to mention the sizeable financial awards winners will take away). Furthermore, related expenditures of participating teams are funded by the Competition, and workshops on select topics of the building process are offered throughout the year.