“I was always the kind of person that never felt bound to be in a specific box,” says Rishu Mohanka (C, E ‘24) as he sits behind the wheel of a U–Haul loaded with a 250–pound tunnel boring machine built entirely by himself and his fellow teammates on Penn Hyperloop. Embarking on a 25–hour road trip from Philadelphia to Bastrop, Texas, the team was en route to compete in the Not–a–Boring Competition, which challenges engineers to design, construct, and race their own innovative tunnel boring machines at The Boring Company’s headquarters.
Rishu, a recent grad in the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research who studied physics and electrical engineering, grew fascinated in building technology at a very young age. He fondly recalls the summer during middle school when he received his first laptop, igniting a newfound passion for playing video games. Always curious about the inner workings of technology and machines, Rishu wondered if he could program his own video games and began experimenting with Flash and ActionScript. To his delight, Rishu was quite successful. He even sold his video games on USB sticks to friends at school. It was during these years that Rishu read the biography of Richard Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!, which further piqued his interest in science and, according to him, “made being a physicist cool.”
In true spirit of being outside the box, Rishu’s college journey has been anything but linear. “The world is so expansive, and there’s so many different problems to solve,” he firmly believes.
Despite taking numerous engineering and physics classes at Penn, Rishu felt he lacked the ability to translate a conceptual idea into a tangible and useful technological production. Seeking real–world experience in hardcore engineering, Rishu decided to take a leave of absence from Penn after his junior year to work at SpaceX for a year and half. “The best way for me to learn is just by doing projects and solving problems. I think it’s one thing to learn engineering in a classroom. It’s a totally different thing to go out in the real world and figure out ways to solve a problem and work on a team with other people,” he says, reflecting on the invaluable first–hand experiences he gained at SpaceX.
During his gap year, Rishu had the opportunity to explore various facets of the engineering and rocket business, taking on projects in radio–frequency engineering, ship avionics, and mechanical engineering. Motivated to become the best engineer possible, Rishu moved down to Starbase, Texas, where he lived in a trailer and worked on SpaceX’s Starship’s avionics and electronics. “That was a really eye–opening experience for me and one of the most challenging six months of my life. A light bulb flipped in my mind, and I just became a completely different engineer and problem solver,” Rishu says. Immersed in the fast–paced environment at SpaceX, Rishu learned how to make rational decisions under high pressure, analyze data effectively, and design and weld structures.
When Rishu returned to Penn in 2023 to start his final fall semester, he yearned for the thrill of SpaceX and the adrenaline rush of building a project hands–on. So, he founded Penn Hyperloop, aiming to create a team that mimicked the intensity of SpaceX and the demands of the engineering industry in hopes of preparing Penn students for the real world. “I want to prepare Penn students to become hardcore engineers and the best engineers possible, so that when they enter these companies they can hit the ground running,” Rishu says.
Penn Hyperloop is committed to researching and building reusable, reliable, and innovative tunnel boring machines. His guiding ethos for the team is “learning by doing.” He explains that “everything we manufacture is custom. We do all of the welding and building ourselves. That’s how you learn. It takes time and effort, but that's the price you pay for knowledge and experience.”
For two and a half months, the strongly bonded team worked tirelessly and diligently to build a tunnel boring machine—a machine that can excavate tunnels underground—to enter the Not–a–Boring Competition, where university teams compete to build a tunnel boring machine that is judged by engineers at The Boring Company. The Boring Company aims to revolutionize transportation and solve the problem of traffic by building low–cost tunnel boring machines capable of digging underground transportation networks quickly and efficiently. After making it through two rounds of rigorous technical reviews, Penn Hyperloop competed in the final event in Bastrop, Texas on March 23. The team built a fully functioning tunnel boring machine and won in the mini event.
Though Rishu has graduated this past spring and will be returning to SpaceX, he is departing Penn with immense pride for his team’s robust work ethic and incredible accomplishments, and he is excited for their future. He plans to remain involved with Penn Hyperloop as an advisor and provide members with extensive design and technical input. “I think Penn Hyperloop is possibly the most unique experience for any engineers and students at Penn who are interested in getting their hands dirty and doing real work,” he says.
What inspires Rishu each day is the exhilarating thrill of building technology and witnessing his creations come to life in the world. “I believe that the purpose of technology is to solve impactful problems and make humanity resilient to the forces of nature,” he shares. Working toward his vision each day, Rishu strives to keep learning both inside and outside the classroom, reading books, and gaining hands–on experience.
“There’s just so much for me to learn, and there are so many problems I’m interested in. I have one life and I want to try to make this the biggest adventure.”
