This term in a new joint project with Geelong Tech School and industry partner Ford, Year 9 DigiSTEM students designed smart mobility vehicles for city travel. Their brief from Ford was to design a lightweight vehicle to allow commuters to navigate the “last mile” between public transport and their destination. Using design thinking to reduce urban congestion and pollution was a key goal of the project.
After initial ideation and design at school, the girls developed their vehicle designs during a two-day workshop at the Geelong Tech School led by Mim Glasby. They used cardboard and 3D printing to create prototypes of their vehicles, which included hybrid scooters, skateboards and skates. They then learned how to use Fusion 360 engineering software to produce a range of digital assets of their designs, including mesh models, technical drawings, rendered drawings and stress tests.
To complete the project back at school, the students presented their final designs to Ford engineers Abhilash and Bing, as well as Mim and Paul from Geelong Tech School. Bing and Abhilash endorsed the designs and gave the girls feedback on their projects. They also shared their stories with the class of how they got into engineering.
Three other GTS projects that ran concurrently with The Last Mile were: Future Fashion (sustainable e-textiles), Design for Humanity (humanitarian engineering) and Bees with Backpacks (bee-friendly urban design).
