“Hanukkah Gifts” in Mechanical Engineering

The Mechanical Engineering department at the SCE Sami Shamoon College of Engineering Ashdod campus made special preparations for the Hanukkah holiday. The department head, Dr. Guy Ben-Hamu, initiated a “Hanukkah Gifts” competition in which 2nd - 4th year students were asked to plan, develop and build holiday-related mechanical systems.

The project resulted in robotic Hanukkah menorahs, among them a menorah that lights itself remotely, a day/night-controlled menorah, a smart spinning top that does not stop spinning and even several automatic systems for drizzling jelly on Hanukkah doughnuts.

The students’ developments were presented at a European Researchers' Night event and can now be viewed on the College YouTube channel.

Dr. Ben-Hamu: “The aim was to enable our students to gain experience in planning and production, to apply the knowledge they acquired in the department and to integrate it with a project related to the Hanukkah holiday. Besides the departmental spirit, this enabled the students to detach from their regular study routine and to experience engineering challenges in a unique way. The experience of creating provides students with a more tangible understanding of things and develops additional skills such as teamwork and carrying out a project from the planning stage through the production stage within a short period of time -necessary abilities for every engineer".