This project is the result of a PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) challenge that brings together universities from around the world to create a product that is capable of transporting people from point A to B in an easy, portable and eco-friendly way. The challenge does not only involve the creation of the product, but also everything from design, manufacturing, marketing and creating a business plan that is able to encompass the entire life-cycle of the product, and convince investors that this project can be undertaken in the future.
Impact
The objective of this project is to integrate research, design, engineering and manufacture to create an innovative power assisted product that aims to be a small personal vehicle that is affordable, portable and characterized by its efficiency and care for the environment. It seeks to improve the quality of life of our society. The vehicle that can be taken on a train, bus, or can be stowed or carried indoors. It mixes seamlessly with public transportation and personal urban transportation.
Student Experience
Students from four universities in three countries collaborated to design and build a Portable Assisted Mobility Device. Weekly video conferences ensured an excellent international engineering collaboration that led to a constant exchange of useful information. Within each university, students worked on various assemblies or sub-assemblies. Students from different universities also used various social media means to communicate outside the formal video conferences and exchange ideas and solutions. They contacted the mentors or faculty advisers when they did not find acceptable solutions. The mentors or faculty advisers gave them ideas or proposed guidelines that either helped them or made their work easier to finish. The participation to the annual competitions (in USA and Italy) gave students the possibility to know each other personally, to work together hand in hand to perform the last second updates and finalize the prototype (after the first year) and the finished product (after the second year). They become friends, and some of them continued to communicate after the end of the project. Furthermore, students and faculty advisers were close during the development of the project.
Countries
Canada, Mexico, United States of America
Impact
Research, Education, Global Partnerships
Institutional Partner(s)
ITESM - campus Monterrey (Mexico), ITESM - campus Toluca (Mexico), University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Canada)
Community Partner(s)
Industry Partner(s)
General Motors, Siemens PLM Software, Hewlett Packard Entreprise, Oracle, Autodesk
Key Outcomes
Publications, Spin-offs
Sponsorship
Foreign
Sponsorship Details
The manufacturing of the product and student travel to the annual competitions was sponsored by General Motors, and Siemens
