Another almost 60 students learn interdisciplinary cooperation in the DESING+ project

A dual autonomous tram, a medical personal handling device for the disabled, and equipment for filling crates at an injection molding machine – these were the topics set by industrial plants dealt with by mixed inter-faculty teams participating in the 18th interdisciplinary learning project DESING+.

The project, in which students from at least four UWB faculties cooperate on topics set by external partners, was conducted with the participation of 56 students – from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art, the Faculty of Health Care Studies, and the Faculty of Economics. Almost 1,500 UWB students have taken part in this project since 2004.

A total of six interdisciplinary teams made up of young engineers, designers, health care professionals and marketing specialists worked on the set topics during the winter semester. The students consulted their solutions with representatives of the external partners and on February 9 presented them online to a jury made up of representatives of the clients and partner companies as well as the participating UWB faculties. The main focus of their assessment was on the construction and design of the proposed solutions, their scope, innovativeness, applicability in practice, the system and quality of accompanying documentation, the quality of presentations and also their teamwork itself.

Škoda Transportation offered the students a futuristic topic of the Dual Autonomous Tram. The students' task was to design a tram to be used not only for the transportation of passengers, but also for the delivery of packages that customers would collect at tram stops. Of the two teams that tackled this task, the one led by Jan Mikeska from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering was more successful. This team presented a tram intended for passenger transport during the day and mainly the distribution of boxes with packages during the night, with the boxes being handled by robots at the tram stops. The jury appreciated the technical solution of the project and its sophistication, the level of involvement by designers, the significant contribution by the health care professionals, their teamwork as well as the critical opinion of the marketers on the economic aspects of the project.

Konstruktionsbüro Dostal gave students a task to design a handling device for disabled people. Of the two teams tasked with this assignment, the one led by Matěj Dvořák from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering won the competition. They designed a device intended not only for lifting, supporting and transporting disabled individuals, as the instructions demanded, but also added a physical therapy feature to it. The jury pointed out particularly the effective use of the methodology, the level of sophistication and the quality of the presentation.

Also the assignment regarding equipment for filling crates at an injection molding machine by the ENGEL Strojírenská Company was taken on by two groups of students. The task was better handled by a team led by Ondřej Váňa from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The jury praised the level of sophistication, the comprehensiveness and applicability of the proposed design, which reflected quality cooperation by its team members.