Talking to escape contestant from Channel 4 engineering show

Made by Maverick TV for Channel 4, Escape pits the engineers against a hostile environment and asks them to combine their creativity and know-how in a substantial engineering challenge. The team has to come up with a means of escape from their location, which essentially involves building some form of machine over a number of days and only using parts harvested from vehicle wreckage at the site.

The interview with Neera, an assistant project engineer at Transport for London (TfL), posted to the RS DesignSpark community website covers the hugely challenging experience of trying to escape from a jungle in Panama with her co-contestants, as well as providing more information on her engineering background, her career and her work as a STEM ambassador.

Neera is a customer of RS and recently ordered several mechanical components for a project entered into the Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ ‘Railway Challenge’ competition. The DesignSpark interview reveals that, somewhat ironically, one of the components Neera had ordered for the railway project would also have neatly solved a problem that the Escape team encountered in the design of their marine vessel.

Lindsley Ruth, CEO of RS Components, commented: “The Escape TV programme is delivering an important service to our industry, bringing engineering and problem-solving to a mass audience through mainstream media, showing that it can be a highly creative and innovative process, and in a format that can entertain and excite people of all ages, gender and backgrounds.”

Inspiring young people to take up engineering is an important goal for RS, to secure the future of engineering development in the UK and further afield. The company has a dedicated university programme, is a partner of STEM Learning, and is involved in various projects aimed at nurturing partnerships with schools, government, investors and business, to create an ecosystem where innovation and engineering talent can thrive.

The full interview can be read here.