Pupil designer Libby, a pupil in P7, will see her engineering idea the ‘Bench Bed’ turned into a reality! Her idea is a bench by day but can become a bed by night, folding down to become a bed with walls surrounding it making it a warm environment for homeless people to sleep in.

Introduction to the ProtoTeam:

Imogen Heard, Specialist Technical Officer (STO) (Co-Electrics Lead and Ergonomics): “I have been with The university of Edinburgh for almost 3 years as a Specialist Technical Officer. My focus is on Embedded Systems, utilising digital electronics & programmable microcontrollers to develop automation, sensing and data acquisition systems for research & teaching experiments.”

Steven Gourlay, Mechanical workshop Technical Support Officer (TSO) (Co-Design Lead): “I have been involved in Design/ Manufacturing for over 37 years. I join the university of Edinburgh in 2007 as the technician for Chemical Engineering. In 2011 I took on the role of Technical Support Officer (TSO) and I am responsible for the introduction, development and management of the current manufacturing facility in the School of Engineering. I also look after the design and development of research equipment within the Institute of Materials and Processes as well as assisting with other institutes when required.”

Alasdair Christie, Assistant Laboratory Technician (Co-Electrics Lead and Comms Lead): “I have been with the University of Edinburgh for 7 years starting as a lab assistant and working my way up the ranks. Thanks to the support of the university I have recently graduated with a BEng Electrical and Electronic degree and I am enjoying being able to apply what I have learned over the years to the exciting projects Primary Engineer has produced.”

Dr Katie Grant, Student Recruitment and Outreach Officer (Schools Lead): “I have been with the School of Engineering for a year and a half, but have been at the University of Edinburgh for 10 years having started as an undergraduate student and going on to complete my PhD here too. My current role involves working with schools to engage young learners with engineering and helping them on their journey to becoming an engineer! I lead the public engagement and schools programme in the team, and am overall project manager too.“

Tom Bolland, MakerSpace Supervisor (Materials): “I have over 6.5 years of experience working with cool projects. For the past 3.5 years, I’ve been a MakerSpace supervisor, helping people build things like rockets and race cars. Before that, I spent 3 years making electronics for escape rooms, creating fun puzzles. I love taking fun ideas and turning them into reality with hands-on work and creativity.”

Iain Gold, Technical Support Officer (TSO) (Budget Lead): “I have been with the University of Edinburgh for nearly 10 years starting of as the technician for the electronics teaching laboratory. I have worked my way up and became Technical Services Officer (TSO) for the Electrical and Electronic Group. I have always had a passion for engineering and love taking things apart and seeing what makes them tick.”

Matthew Proudfoot, Assistant Mechanical Workshop Technician (Co-Design Lead): “My job is to help with manufacturing mechanical parts for research projects for the school of engineering. I have been with the University for over 4 years mainly as an apprentice where I learned a variety of technical skills for an engineering workshop from industry experienced professionals.”

Mathew Hunton, Assistant Mechanical Engineering Technician (Mechanical): “After over a decade in the oil and gas sector in Alberta, Canada, I returned to school and completed a diploma in Nanosystems Engineering Technology at NAIT before moving to Scotland to join the Civil and Structural Engineering department at University of Edinburgh.”

Dr Marcelo Dias, Reader in structural engineering (Structures): “I’m currently is a Reader in Structural Mechanics at the University of Edinburgh, leading the “Mechanics and Geometry of Advanced Structures Laboratory” (MEGA SLab) in the Institute for Infrastructure and Environment at the School of Engineering. I’ve been in the school for 3.5 years.”

Why have they chosen this pupil idea?

There were a variety of reasons the Bench Bed was chosen, but primarily it was the social responsibility aspect they liked. It was brilliant to see a young person caring for those in a less fortunate position than themselves, putting in time and effort to think of how to improve their situation by giving them a safe, warm, and dry place to sleep. It was particularly heartening to see that the pupil was thinking of more than just her community, stating “there are millions of homeless people all around the world”. It also has the potential for use by a wide range of people in the public and provides us with the opportunity to engage with local communities and schools by asking them to help design the outer shell of the bench.

The ProtoTeam also liked the clear design and detailed explanation of how the Bench Bed would work. It showed how the bench would fold in and out, as well as the extra features like blankets, pillows, and lights. The pupil demonstrated how it could be used in the day and not just at night.

Commercial potential was also seen in the design. The adaptability of the design features to fit different budgets really highlighted that this product could one day be taken up by charities and councils.

Last, but not least, they liked its potential. In the selection meeting, it was discussed how the design could be expanded to include many features to help people. Features such as phone chargers, Wi-Fi, help alerts, and monitoring of the homeless population (something that is lacking unfortunately) were all discussed. It also has the potential for the design to be modified to fit in with its surroundings.

Initial Design Meeting:

After selecting the Bench Bed, the ProtoTeam had an initial design meeting where they brainstormed ideas and designs for how they would make the Bench Bed a reality.

It was a robust discussion where they explored many concepts, from box-shaped beds to cylinders to canopies. A key part of the discussion was visualising how the mechanics of the design could be used. They also discussed what materials could be used, what the aesthetic could be, what electrics could go into it, and potential manufacturing methods.

At the end of the meeting, they had two designs we planned on creating with Computer Aided Design (CAD) and presenting to Libby.

Presenting to Libby

On Friday 27th of September the team held a design meeting with Libby and her parents. The key aims of this meeting was to introduce her to the team and to have her feedback on the proposed changes to her original design. After pitching the designs to Libby, she decided to go with design two. The team were very clear with why they had made the changes they had, and explained that by using a cylindrical design the mechanism would be much easier for people to use. Libby liked that the second design could be a shelter during the day as well as turning into the bed at night, she was also happy with the change in design from a box to a cylinder.

After further discussion, it was decided the following would be good to include, if possible, in the storage compartments:

i. Pillow and covers

ii. Heated blanket

iii. Mattress

iv. Towel

v. Basic first aid kit

vi. Hygiene supplies

vii. Defibrillator

For the electrics, Libby liked the idea of the following:

i. USB charger

ii. Solar panels

iii. Lights that come on when it’s dark

iv. Lights that can be switched off

v. GSM, communications system for those without a phone

A few more advancements that were developed in the meeting by Libby and the team included:

• discussion of an internal foldable structure to reflect the heat and/or a ventilation system to ensure the structure doesn’t overheat
• the idea of having a hook at the back of the design along with some sort of drying rack for clothes
• discussion of 3D printing the light switch with glow-in-the-dark filament or adding an LED to it
• a possible water filtration system to capture rainwater and provide drinking water

One aspect that Libby was keen on, which shows great social responsibility, was the Bench Bed being open to everyone so it not to have a locking system to access.

Next steps

Invigorated from their discussions the team will finalise the design and develop a timeline for construction. As Libby is a keen budding engineer, showing enthusiasm for both the construction and electrical parts of the design, the university plan to have her along to assist with part of the construction and soldering of the electrical components.

They will also reach out to Social Responsibility and Sustainability team at the University of Edinburgh to discuss working with homeless charities to ensure that they are considering all aspects of rough-sleeping, an aspect Libby is also interested in being involved in.

We are looking forward to receiving the next update from the ProtoTeam.

The post University of Edinburgh Creating the Bench Bed Prototype first appeared on Primary Engineer.

• Design and assemble the bodywork
• Build a remote to control the CWAB

Bodywork
There were a few options available to the team for the bodywork. The roll-bars on the vehicle provided a natural support structure for fixing on the panels, along with some additional framework that was secured to the rear of the vehicle. Initial discussions considered the manufacture of the bodywork panels from a variety of materials to make use of the teams’ expertise and capability. These included plastic and metallic sheet materials, 3D printed materials, as well as lightweight composite carbon fibre panels. In the end, for time and cost reasons, it was determined that plastic sheet materials would be the most feasible. These sheets of plastic were cut to shape and then assembled onto the support frame.

Remote
To allow easy use of the C.W.A.B, the team were keen to stay faithful to Ben’s original design by having a very simple remote interface (one button!). They started by determining what the remote needed to do: send a signal to the electronics in the car to carry out the programme(s) stored on-board. It was decided to have two on-board programmes:

1. Lower the hose arm, turn on the pump, turn off the pump, raise the arm
2. Same as programme 1 but also with driving included

As a result, they connected two buttons (one for each program) to an Arduino circuit board that when pushed, would send their corresponding signal via a radio transmitter to a receiver on-board the car. When the car received the signal, it would begin the program. All of this was housed inside a 3D printed casing, with an antenna protruding out the top to boost the range of the signal.

CWAB On The Road
Having finished the bodywork and remote, the CWAB was ready to be unveiled at the South West Leaders Award exhibition held at the University of West England on the 5th July. The GKN Aerospace ProtoTeam gave a presentation at the event about their prototype, explaining the design, manufacture and operation of the C.W.A.B. before inviting Ben to the stage to unveil it for the first time! The team then gave a live demonstration of it in action.

The next event in the calendar was a visit to Ben’s school. The team gave an interactive presentation about GKN Aerospace and the wider industry, before revealing the C.W.A.B to Ben’s classmates and having a show-and-tell session where they could get up close, ask questions, and see it in action!

The final stop on the C.W.A.B’s summer tour was to Farnborough Airshow for the ‘Pioneers of Tomorrow’ STEM event. The prototype was showcased (next to a GKN Aerospace jet engine) alongside several other interactive STEM activities GKN Aerospace had been working on, with visitors coming and going from the GKN Tech Hall all day. This was a real highlight of the project, where all of the teams’ hard work was shown off to members of the public and the industry alike.

Upon finishing the project, the GKN Aerospace team reflected that ‘the project as a whole has been an amazing experience for those involved, inspiring us with the creativity and innovation of Ben and all of the other designs submitted to the competition, and hopefully allowing us to inspire some of the next generation of engineers to pursue careers in STEM’.

The post The final update on the CWAB Prototype first appeared on Primary Engineer.

The ProtoTeam have been bringing Year 5, Hawa’s amazing engineering idea to life over the 2023/2024 academic year.

The prototype was officially unveiled at the Great Manchester Award Ceremony on 4th July 2024 and we can all agree, it looks amazing!

The post Manchester Metropolitan University revolutionises inhalers for children first appeared on Primary Engineer.

GKN Aerospace have turned Year 5 Pupil Ben’s Clean Water Access Bot into a reality with their prototype as part of a continued partnership between GKN Aerospace and Primary Engineer. They chose this design because it addresses an important problem – accessibility of water in remote locations.

What has happened since the last update?

Since their initial update, the team worked hard to get the C.W.A.B prototype designed and functional. To begin with, the key features of Ben’s design (along with some of their own ideas) were grouped into ‘must-have’, ‘should-have’ and ‘could-have’. The result was:

Must-have:

• Water pump system (tank, piping, pump)
• Vehicle (body, chassis, motors etc.)
• Electronics (power source, remote control, control circuitry)

Should-have:

• Retractable arm for hose deployment
• Sustainable/renewable power
• Water filter
• Automated driving

Could-have:

• Off-road wheels
• Decals on bodywork
• Sliding doors/windows
• Camera

This gave clear requirements and targets for the prototype in order of priority. They grouped the different features above into ‘sub-systems’ that each member of the team would be responsible for:

• Vehicle – everyone
• Water pump system – Tom
• Circuitry and programming – Remo
• Hose deployment arm – Sam
• Power supply – Matt

Vehicle:

To be able to design all of the sub-systems, the team needed to know what vehicle they would be using to create the C.W.A.B, as it would determine the size of the components, how much they can weigh (which turned out to be a challenge!), and how they will drive/control everything. After quite a bit of research, the team landed on a 6-wheel toy truck with a raising rear bed:

This had several features they liked: 6 wheels for better off-road capability and supporting additional weight, the raising rear bed could be used for the hose deployment, and it came with a remote control that they could modify to control the vehicle as well as the additional systems they wanted to add.

Water Pump System:

The most important function of the C.W.A.B is that it can pump water from a source outside the vehicle into a tank stored on the vehicle. The key components required to do this were some piping for the water to travel through, a pump to pull the water through the pipes, and a tank to hold the water in the vehicle. They started by choosing the tank, which ended up fitting perfectly in the footwell in front of the seats:

Next, they needed a pump that was fast enough to fill the tank in a reasonable time, didn’t weigh too much, didn’t use lots of power and wasn’t too expensive. The pumps they chose were typically used in gardens, or on boats! Once that was sorted, they decided to buy a special hose pipe designed for sucking water up (pulling the water instead of pushing it), and attached it to the pump.

Finally, they thought it was very important that the water being pumped into the tank was cleaned so that it could be used by those who need it. The hose pipe and water pump both have built-in debris filters, so to remove bacteria and viruses they integrated an ‘ultrafilter’ that contained a very fine mesh (netting) to catch the harmful things in the water and stops them flowing into the tank. This was the cheapest and lightest weight option they could find! Here’s one of the initial tests of the system:

Circuitry & Programming:

There are a few things that need to be controlled on the C.W.A.B: the driving of the vehicle, the raising of the rear bed, and the water pump system. By using an Arduino circuit board, they were able to use the vehicle’s remote control to run an automated driving routine (that we can write in advance) by pressing a single button. Once the vehicle reaches its destination, the circuit board tells the rear bed arm to raise which lowers the hose pipe at the back of the vehicle. Finally, it tells the pump to turn on and collect water.

To stop the tank from overfilling, there is a sensor inside it which tells the pump to turn off if the tank is full.

Hose Deployment Arm:

Another challenge that the team had identified was how the C.W.A.B would access the water depending on the source (such as a lake or a well). To tackle this, they used an arm that lowers the hose pipe off the back of the vehicle to ground level when the rear bed is raised. After taking measurements, the arm was designed and 3D printed for testing:

Power Supply:

In order to power all of the electronics on the C.W.A.B. they have two separate batteries on board, one for the vehicle and one for the pump. To supply a sustainable source of power in remote locations, they decided to use a solar panel that could be secured on the top of the vehicle, allowing the pump to be run from a battery charged using the sun!

Once these systems were finished, they assembled all of the individual components onto the vehicle and started testing that they worked together. This is when they invited Ben and his family to visit GKN Aerospace Global Technology Centre and have a tour of our workshop to see where the team make some of our aircraft parts, followed by a demonstration of the C.W.A.B. in action and an explanation of the engineering process so far. They also wanted some feedback from him for improvements and next steps for the project!

Thankfully, Ben was very pleased with the prototype!

The GKN Aerospace prototeam commented to say that “working on Ben’s invention through the Primary Engineer collaboration has been a lot of fun, providing the team with fresh perspectives as well as the opportunity to apply our expertise in a novel and impactful way. Most importantly, it has allowed us to continue to inspire and engage with the next generation of engineers, nurturing young talent and fostering innovation from an early age, something we are committed to at GKN Aerospace.”

The prototype will be officially unveiled on 5th July at University of West England Awards Ceremony & Exhibition for our South West.

The post GKN Aerospace’s C.W.A.B prototype update first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Thales are one of our National Partners for our annual engineering competition which asks pupils aged 3-19 ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ and encourages pupils come up with creative solutions to real-world problems.

There are 5 Thales teams from various sites around the UK who will each be working on one of the 5 pupil engineering ideas selected to develop into a prototype over the 2023/2024 academic year which will be unveiled at the Awards Ceremony and Public Exhibition during the Summer term.

The prototeam

The Sign Right Translator is a tablet housing an original sign language translating application enhanced using machine learning and cloud computing. Via the camera input, the device aims to recognise, detect and capture the signs which are then translated and outputted visually on the screen. Inspired by the student’s original drawings, the tablet has a variety of unique cases to further display their creativity.

The prototype team is formed of a mixture of graduates and apprentices, from various disciplines, all based at Thales’ Crawley site. The team members are utilising their volunteering hours to help bring the student’s design to life, ensuring to fully capture the student’s vision but assessing what creative adaptions we could implement as part of the project.

Beginning the prototype

During the planning stage, a simple but effective project management structure was defined, allowing the team to follow and utilise the Scrum approach to product development, just one of the many agile methodologies. The Scrum Master and Product Owner worked together to outline the major milestones and creating a plan on a page. This helped to ensure the team stays focused throughout the project and key stakeholders were updated regularly about the milestones and progress

During the setting up phase they took a service design approach to better understand the users, the design presented to them and the feasibility of creating the product exactly as described. They created personas to help define the primary and secondary users, use cases and user stories to guide them in the development of the product. During this stage they defined the baseline requirements from the drawings they received along with optional requirements, allowing them to introduce some creative aspects to both the hardware and software created without compromising the designer’s original ideas.

Design Phase

Hardware Update
In hardware they started with extracting the student’s designs from the initial specification and digitalising them, they then investigated different ways that they could implement these into the custom cases. When exploring use cases, they looked into the different environments where the device would be used. They decided to design four different cases (see 2 of our designs below), one for each operational environment and implement additional hardware to improve both functionality and ergonomics specific to each one. Following this they worked on implementing her artwork onto the cases in a way that complimented the new hardware while staying true to the student’s vision. The team then moved into the prototyping phase where we they integrated the designs and hardware onto the cases and analysed different types of manufacturing processes to create the final cases.

Software Update
In software, they started by researching Sign Language Translation (SLT) methods, focusing on which sign languages (BSL, ASL, etc.) have the most developed research and papers. They explored different AI models, comparing both CNN-based and 3D-Pose-based networks, and analysed their performance in terms of accuracy and speed. They investigated potential platforms for the client application, ultimately determining that an iPad mini with iPadOS would be the most appropriate choice. In designing the UI wireframes for the client application, they focused on requirements specific to child users, ensuring the interface is intuitive and engaging. They developed a local API endpoint that takes a video clip as input and responds with translated captions for each frame. This endpoint was tested locally for performance and accuracy. Following successful local testing, they deployed the API endpoint to the cloud with additional GPU compute to accelerate translation performance. Additionally, they developed the client application using the Flutter framework, incorporating an intuitive UI and playful animations to enhance the user experience.

Prototype unveiled!

The prototype was unveiled at the South East awards on 20th June hosted at Canterbury Christ Church University. Huge well done to the Thales UK Crawley Prototeam.

The post Thales Crawley have turned Year 6 Pupil Scarlett’s Sign Language Translator into a reality first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Inspired by the ‘Seed Planting Drone’ concept from Emily Jackson at St. James C E Primary Academy, the ‘Automated Seed Planting System’ is a prototype designed by six students from University of Southampton. The aim is to plant a range of seeds to enhance soils and increase biodiversity in areas of land where labour & budgets are limited.

What has happened since the last update?

The Automated seed-planting system eco-design: ‘GERMINATOR’

• Enhances soil quality by sensing soil nutrient levels (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) to select seeds for soil-enhancing plants, and,
• Enhances biodiversity by planting a specific mix of seeds simultaneously, to avoid monoculture.

The seed metering system design was assembled and tested.

The Powertrain was designed, to be able to handle a 10% incline and maintain stability on uneven terrain, as well as travel over small ground obstacles (e.g. stones).

Issues in testing the Powertrain:

• The drive belt would become loose and would no longer provide traction.
• Bolts within the wheel assembly would tighten up.

Modification: An additional belt positioning part was added which increases the contact between the motor pulley and the belt.

Test Performance

• Slower than the maximum intended speed (~5 km/h)
• Can travel up an incline of 9.5º
• Able to overcome obstacles of 5 cm

Testing was undertaken with

1. Different soil/terrain types
2. Different seed sizes

Results showed

• Smaller seeds were more consistently dispensed
• Typically, seeds were dispensed on 86% system actuations
• Fairly consistent planting depths
• Typical sowing depth error: 0.67 mm

Prototype features:

• Safety: Emergency stop button
• Terrain adaptability: Can traverse uneven terrain, and up to 16.7% inclination
• Autonomous operation: Partially Automated
• Low end-of-life impact: Recyclable and reusable materials
• Portable size and weight: Compact for transportation and storage
• Power Consumption: Average of 145.89 W
• As queried in the Q&A at St. James C E Primary Academy, a removable, weatherproof top section is now part of the design.
• Soil sensing is in place to measure soil quality.

Prototype Unveiling!

The finished prototype was officially unveiled on 13th June 2024 at University of Southampton for our South England Award Ceremony and Public Exhibition. Pupil designer, Emily, loved seeing her idea brought to life in what was a fantastic unveiling!

The post University of Southampton’s ‘Seed Planting Drone’ prototype unveiled first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Based on the idea of a Primary 1 pupil, Iona, from Linlithgow Primary School, the Glowbot is designed to help children who are afraid of the dark find their way to the bathroom at night.

Starting the prototype

Iona envisioned a robot that could help tidy up her toys, light up and guide her to the bathroom though a dark house at night, and to make sure it had claws. The team at University of Edinburgh took those ideas and started to develop the prototype.

They initially wanted the build to have a dual wheel so it could be a self-balancing robot with a basic chassis that further features could be added to. It was designed to light up and follow a line on the ground that can lead the child from the bedroom to the bathroom. A body was developed to encase the robot, taking design inspiration from the drawing provided by Iona. The head & torso sections of the outer enclosure were printed and the robot was tested, evaluated and debugged.

Issues

The team had some issues in devising the best way to enable the robot to navigate autonomously. They selected a line following algorithm to ensure that it would not get lost on its way from point A to point B. Further to this, they made sure that the robot contained additional sensors to detect obstacles in its path, for which it can either stop moving and wait for the obstacle to be removed, or attempt to navigate around the obstacle.

Future additions

In the future with any further prototype developments, they would have loved to add an interactive screen that would enable the robot to show personality and emotions, adding additional sensors, including machine vision which would allow the chassis to navigate the environment with more autonomy, and even allow it to track and follow coloured targets, worn by the user or placed around the operational environment, and a feature to enable users to communicate commands to glowbot vocally, using natural language processing, and have the robot respond in a calm tone to reassure the user.

They also envisioned further add ons possibly including the ability for the robot to pull a cart behind it while following the pupil around the room, assisting in tidying up toys and teaching stewardship of our surroundings.

Unveiling the prototype

On Tuesday May 28th pupils from schools across the East of Scotland visited the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering to receive awards and recognition for their engineering ideas. The prototype was also unveiled.

Professor Gareth Harrison, Head of School at the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering, opened the event:

“We were delighted to host this event with our long-standing partners Primary Engineer. Today’s celebration event brought the pupils, teachers and engineers back together for an awards ceremony and to view the exhibition of over 200 winning and highly commended entries for the South East Scotland region. It has been fantastic to see how the children have been able to identify problems and come up with such inventive solutions. It was also great to unveil the prototype for ‘The Glowbot’, of one of the winning entries from last year’s competition, built by our technical staff in conjunction with it’s primary school creator.”

The post University of Edinburgh to create the Glowbot first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Inspired by the ‘Seed Planting Drone’ concept from Emily Jackson at St. James C E Primary Academy, the ‘Automated Seed Planting System’ is a prototype designed by six students from University of Southampton. The aim is to plant a range of seeds to enhance soils and increase biodiversity in areas of land where labour & budgets are limited.

The soil conditions are sensed by the robot. Users also make some choices and the best seeds are chosen with some help from software. Referring to a database, the robot knows how deep to plant each type of seed and adjusts its mechanism.

The robot will need to be programmed to plant seeds in a pattern to suit the shape of the land area and the spacing needed for each type of seed. The robot can plant any mix of 4 types of seeds to the correct depth and spacing.

The student group visited Emily Jackson’s class at St. James C E Primary Academy to show their design and parts of their prototype build. They were asked a number of interesting questions, including, ‘what happens when it rains?’ They are now designing a body for the robot.

The student group hosted a University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day activity ‘Humans Vs Robots: Time to Plant Seeds’ on 16 March. Visitors, including Emily Jackson, were challenged to see how many seeds they could plant in a regular pattern in 30 seconds.

Problems/obstacles faced/overcome/anticipated

Some seeds are irregular shapes. The seeding dispenser needs some more powerful motors to ensure it does not get stuck.

Permission is needed to test the robot by planting seeds on ground near the workshop in the School of Engineering.

Next steps – planning

As the robot system parts are fully assembled together, we shall soon see how many seeds the robot will plant in a given time – whether it is faster than humans, or more accurate, or both.

Feedback can also be sought from a local City Farm. They can offer their expert opinion on how good the robot needs to be at planting different seeds, to ensure everyone would think it is a good design.

The finished prototype will be officially unveiled on 13th June 2024 at University of Southampton for our South England Award Ceremony and Public Exhibition.

The post University of Southampton mid-way prototype update first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Thales are one of our National Partners for our annual engineering competition which asks pupils aged 3-19 ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ and encourages pupils come up with creative solutions to real-world problems.

There are 5 Thales teams from various sites around the UK who will each be working on one of the 5 pupil engineering ideas selected to develop into a prototype over the 2023/2024 academic year which will be unveiled at the Awards Ceremony and Public Exhibition during the Summer term.

The prototeam

The Solar Powered Heated Blanket was chosen by Thales Glasgow because the pupil had highlighted an interesting gap in the market for a portable style heated blanket that’s able to be operated using solar energy and not rely on mains. The team liked that the student’s design intent was to help the homeless, and they also recognised this idea’s applicability in camping, hiking and travelling applications.

The prototype team is formed of a mixture of graduates and apprentices, from various disciplines.

Beginning the prototype

They identified that the design comprised of three main components which were a heated sleeping bag/blanket, a set of solar panels and a battery pack. They used the average human sleep time of 8 hours as the required run time of the heated sleeping bag in initial power calculations and kept this in mind when researching suitable batteries and solar panels.

They were quite keen on adding further elements to this design in an effort to make it more efficient and targeted towards the end user. So, they decided to include a control circuit that would automatically alternate the blanket between on/off states based of sensor temperature readings, aiming to boost battery life. The team also modelled a bag with an outer frame customisation to hold the solar panels, this allows for on-the-move solar charging whilst also providing the user with storage space.

Progress of the build

All of the required components and sub components were acquired and tested to make sure they meet the requirements.

Control circuit was tested on a breadboard and components were soldiered onto a circuit board after performance verification.

Parts comprising the bag’s outer frame were modelled in CAD software and their STL files were sent to the 3D printer.

The team then modelled a casing for the final control circuit, 3D printed it and attached it to the heated sleeping bag. Assembled the frame parts together, fixed it onto the backpack and attached the solar panels to it. Then they connected all of the sub-components together and carried out system level testing.

School visit

The team delivered a presentation to Rebecca’s class about engineering in general and at Thales. They demonstrated and let the class test out Sophie lite camera and it’s thermal imaging mode. They caught up with the student Rebecca and her teacher to update them on the progress and allow Rebecca to assess the protobuild.

She was very happy to see her idea has been brought to life and gave her tick of approval. She was happy with the heated blanket being a ‘heated sleeping bag’ as it would allow for better heat retention.

Prototype unveiled!

The prototype was unveiled at the South East awards on 24th May hosted at Glasgow University. Huge well done to the Thales UK Glasgow Prototeam.

The post Thales Glasgow have turned P7 Pupil Rebecca’s Solar Powered Heated Blanket into a reality first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Thales are one of our National Partners for our annual engineering competition which asks pupils aged 3-19 ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ and encourages pupils come up with creative solutions to real-world problems.

There are 5 Thales teams from various sites around the UK who will each be working on one of the 5 pupil engineering ideas selected to develop into a prototype over the 2023/2024 academic year which will be unveiled at the Awards Ceremony and Public Exhibition during the Summer term.

Beginning the prototype

The Thales Templecombe ProtoTeam selected Erin’s Walkie Frame engineering idea to bring to life as Erin’s idea was to improve her grandmother’s comfort and the convenience of using walking aids. It was also to help save space in her grandmother’s apartment. The ProtoTeam felt this was a very kind-hearted and selfless innovation and were keen to be a part of its design.

Midpoint update

They have made previous physical concepts for this design however encountered a few roadblocks during its creation. They realised that due to the difference in handles of walking sticks and walking frames and the necessity for having the weight applied through the centre of each walking aid it was difficult to create walking sticks that could also function effectively within a walking frame. As such had to go back to the drawing board and create new concepts and adaptations which we will be presenting to the student to get their feedback. Our next steps for the team will be to bring together a finalised design approved by the student and bring it to life. They have planned a virtual meeting with the pupil designer and teacher to show them the current design concepts, two ideas for the walkie frame itself and the possibility of integrating another idea of into the walkie frame, the further idea being a universal walking frame clip on pouch (CAD design shown below). They hope this planned virtual meeting will allow them to really narrow down on a final design for our student.

What’s next?

This is the last update on this amazing prototype until it’s grand unveiling at the Award Ceremony event.

The post Pupil engineering idea, Walkie Frame, developed into a prototype by Thales first appeared on Primary Engineer.