The IDEA challenge returned in May 2023 for its third iteration! This time it was hosted by the University of Zagreb and building on the success of the the challenge’s first two iterations was set to be bigger and better than ever!
The challenge saw teams working fully virtually to develop a CubeSat satellite that could monitor water quantity and quality over the great lakes of Africa. Five teams had just over thirty hours to develop a design solution and pitch it to a panel of CubeSat experts.
As teams were working virtually, the challenge was hosted in Gather, with each of the teams having their own work space. The setup also featured an auditorium for pitches, announcements and discussing with the hosts.
Through use of the platform, it was possible to monitor communications between teams during the challenge. This when coupled with prototypes developed throughout the challenge will permit insights into how designers communicate during high pressure design scenarios such as hackathons and the impact that this has on quality of design outputs.
While all teams produced excellent designs and accompanying pitches, Team Bristol (Adam, Rob and TJ) were crowned 2023 IDEA challenge champions. Their design solution along with some of its key features including the solar panel deployment mechanism are shown in the images below. To mark the occasion, an award ceremony will be held in Bordeaux this year as part of the International Conference on Engineering Design.
The IDEA challenge will return in 2024! Watch this space for any updates and please get in touch if you’re interested in participating or hosting the challenge for your own research study.
