User Experience (UX) Design Students Take On Caterpillar Machine Cabs

2025 marked the seventh year of the Caterpillar UX Design Challenge at Bradley University. This annual learning opportunity challenges teams of User Experience (UX) Design students with real-world problems and offers real-world rewards—each member of the winning team receives an interview with CAT for a UX internship.

For the 2025 challenge, students, guided by Professor Chantell Marlow, redesigned the user interfaces inside machine cabs. The students visited the CAT Simulator Center, user-tested their designs with actual operators, made continuous revisions, and presented them to Caterpillar for review.

Junior User Experience Design major Ashtyn Thali was on one of the six teams of Bradley students participating in the challenge. She credits Professor Marlow with helping her and her peers navigate the complexities of the project.

“Chantell was a great teacher throughout this experience, always on standby for questions, and providing great feedback as I documented the project,” Thali said. “She was always ready to pop in with suggestions as we worked and made the experience a lot easier.”

Thali most enjoyed the opportunity to use her skills outside of the classroom, while also being allowed to go wild with ideas as part of a team. However, her trip to the Simulator Center proved uniquely challenging.

“I wish I could go back,” Thali said. “I’ve never driven an actual CAT vehicle before, and after this simulator, I remembered quickly why I never would. I tried an excavator and a dozer—I did poorly. But I think it helped me visualize how our designs would function in a real-life setting.”

True to its name, the Caterpillar UX Design Challenge came with its fair share of hurdles to overcome. However, with support from Professor Marlow and feedback from real machine operators, Thali and her peers persevered.

“In terms of growth, I think this challenge gave me the gift of prototyping,” she said. “It was a lot of trial and error, Figma software tutorials, and skimming through many community files. But I feel I’ve gained more knowledge on creating and animating assets within Figma because of it.”

“This year alone, CAT has hired four students as UX designers before graduation,” Art and Design Chair Heather Ford said. “We are so fortunate to have this partnership with CAT’s Digital and UX team. Looking forward to continuing it again next year!”

–Jenevieve Rowley-Davis