The results of students' product development projects made public in Design Factory
26.04.2010
A gala event for the Product Development Project, in which the results of 13 multidisciplinary student projects were made public, was held in Design Factory on 23.4. The prototypes created in the projects were developed in collaboration with businesses and international partners.
All disciplines at Aalto University are represented in the Product Development Project (PDP): Art and Design, Technology and Business. As well as interaction between disciplines, internationality is also highlighted: One third of the project leaders were international students.
This year the projects were divided into three themes: ”Rethinking Industry”, ”Electric Experience” and “Get a Life – Wellbeing & leisure” with examples of each below. All the projects can be seen on the project's web pages.
RePack - durable and easily usable packaging
The student team in the RePack project designed new, recyclable and easy-to-use packaging for elevator doors.
Cardboard was the only material used in the packaging. The door parts can be packed in a box with the aid of pre-cut cellular cardboard formers. The installer requires no tools whatsoever to unpack the box, and the package can be easily transported on specially-provided wheels. With the old box it took about an hour to pack five doors at the factory- with the new box it only takes 20-30 minutes.
The project consisted of 11 students from Finland, China and India. The project was led by Yiwen Wu and sponsored by Kone.
Plugi - mobile billing of electricity
In the Plugi project the students' task was to devise a means for electrical charging irrespective of location. The result was the portable charging unit called "Plugi". The Plugi prototype was primarily designed for charging electric cars. Charging can be carried out directly from traditional heating poles for cars. Plugi is personalised for the owner and vehicle, it recognises the user and is connected to an online service which collects billing information.
There were 11 members of the international and multidisciplinary team for the Plugi project. The project was led by Nityananda Torrallardona Landaluze and was sponsored by Ericsson.
Wavecure - a better treatment experience
In the Wavecure project a concept was developed to improve the patient's experience during the MR(g)-HIFU procedure to remove uterine fibroids.
Part of the overall content of the project was an ergonomically designed standard of care. A small screen is placed below the face for e.g. watching movies. The treatment area is decorated in soothing shades of green with lights, plants and video installations which can e.g. recreate the undersea world in the room.
10 students worked on the project. The project was led by Anna Torvinen, who is trained as a nurse. The project was sponsored by Philips.
Businesses and foreign universities acting as partners
Partners from the business world were Kone, Nokia, ABB, Destia, Outotec, Philips and Ericsson. Foreign universities participating as partners in the project are MIT (US), Rhode Island School of Design (US), Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (Sweden), Tallinna Tehnika Ulikool (Estonia), IIT Kanpur (India) and Technische Universität Graz (Austria).
Further details:
Professor Kalevi Ekman
050 555 3566, kalevi.ekman [at] tkk [dot] fi
http://www.pdp.fi/
http://aaltodesignfactory.fi/
