University of Warwick · School of Engineering
NOT-A-BORING COMPETITION 2027 · DIGGING MINI · BASTROP, TX
We're a student-led project designing and building our own tunnel boring machine (TBM). This year we are building a vertical TBM to compete in the Not-a-Boring Competition in Texas, digging into CH clay.
The Mission
The Boring Company's Not-a-Boring Competition challenges teams across the world to build machines that dig. Our category: bore a vertical shaft, fully machine powered, through some of the most stubborn ground in Texas, high plasticity clay that would rather stick to your cutterhead than leave the hole.
Every part of the machine is designed, analysed and built by the students; with many subsystems to work on, nearly all streams of engineering are worked on.
| Parameter | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Bore diameter | ≥ 0.5 m |
| Shaft depth | ≥ 1.0 m |
| Orientation | Vertical |
| Ground | High-plasticity clay |
| Site | Bastrop, Texas |
| Operation | Machine digs. Humans supervise. |
By the numbers
The Competition
Run by The Boring Company, the competition judges machines on how they dig: speed, accuracy and autonomy, with every design scrutinised by industry engineers before it's allowed near the dirt. Our students receive hands on experience with real world constraints and standards, with their ideas and designs receiving feedback from professionals.
We're competing in the Digging Mini category, with our sights set on the full tunnelling competition in future years.
Ground characterisation, concept selection and first-principles design of every subsystem.
Our full machine concept goes in front of The Boring Company's engineers.
Detailed design package, then manufacture and testing at Warwick.
The machine meets the clay.
Why it matters
The UK's tunnelling industry faces a well-documented skills shortage, with an ageing workforce and too few young engineers entering the field.
HS2, Thames Tideway and the next generation of infrastructure all depend on tunnelling expertise, and on the people who'll deliver the projects after them.
Nothing teaches ground engineering like designing a machine, defending it in front of industry, and putting it in the ground. That's exactly what we do.
Put your name on a machine bound for Texas, and in front of the next generation of tunnelling and mechanical engineers. Funding, materials, machining and expertise all move us forward.
CAD, geotechnics, electronics, control systems, operations, media: if you're a Warwick student who wants to build something real, there's a seat for you.