When Anubhav (Anu) Tewari (’21, ME) wants to talk about design and engineering, he jumps on Discord. What he never anticipated was that the conversations from the social media platform would be the seeds for the creation of Redline, an award-winning community of hundreds to complete engineering projects, participate in competitions and expand on each other’s skills.

Redline came about as a result of Tewari meeting Canadian students on Discord —  Ontario Tech University’s Collins Ehimen and University of Ottawa’s Matthew Simpson.

“It was total luck,” Tewari said. “I didn’t know them at all, we just started working together.” 

They decided to form a team in February to participate in the University of Ottawa’s Designathon, a three-day competition that charges teams to solve pre-determined challenges and present their design to professional judges.

The result was a first-place finish for their new interior concept for an autonomous vehicle.

“We won by a massive score difference,” Tewari said. “… That got the ball rolling, making us think that if we can make this, we can work with other students on different projects they have.”

Whether working together or individually, Tewari, Ehimen and Simpson — under the Redline name — went on to win four more design competitions hosted by Canadian universities in 2021. They also expanded Redline membership from the three of them to more than 150 people.

In addition to competing, Redline also serves as a community for people who want to see their designs or project ideas come to life.

“Every student has an idea or project they wish to work on. If you want to make it, get in touch with us and we can provide a team for you to create it,” Tewari said. “You can connect with them and if it gets to the point where you want/need to actually build or make it with a 3D printer, you can send the file to us and we’ll 3D print it and send it to you.”

The project will still belong to the student, but will be created under the Redline name.

For Tewari, engineering is all about collaborating.

“You cannot design an engine with one person, you need a team,” he said. “We [Redline] can provide the team; we just need the passion, energy and skills from you.”

Currently, Redline is in the process of completing bylaws and defining the roles of various chapters and their members. There are chapters at the University of British Columbia and Ontario Tech University.

Next, the organization is preparing to host its first competition, Red League, a virtual design competition Aug. 20-22, in partnership with the Ontario Tech Design League, University of British Columbia Design League and University of Toronto Design League.

Anyone interested in participating in Red League can register here. For more information about Redline, visit teamredlinedesign.com.