Konecranes assignment inspired students to build smart prototypes
Almost 200 students participated in the product design course of the School of Engineering this fall where they learned about the design process of a technical product and how to apply it. For the first time at such an early stage of studies the students got an actual industry problem to tackle.
The assignment given by Konecranes was to design an assistive device for their overhead crane with which objects can be lifted automatically from a loading pallet to a machine tool and back. 鈥淜onecranes has for long worked with students, but usually with one group at a time. Giving a task for 30 student groups was new to us as well鈥, says Ekku Rytk枚nen (in the picture below standing on the table), Innovation Specialist at Konecranes.
In spring 2016 Konecranes and Aalto University agreed on education and research cooperation in industrial internet. For this purpose Konecranes donated a smart overhead crane to the Aalto Industrial Internet Campus where students got an introduction to the functionalities of the crane and got to use the lab facilities to build their prototypes.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get to use the crane itself, but saw how it works. That helped us in understanding better what Konecranes expected from us. The product design course was fun and more practical than other more theoretical courses I鈥檝e attended. Every week our group worked on the assignment 鈥 there was a lot of information gathering but also room to be creative鈥, tells Emilia Julin, second year student of mechanical and structural engineering.
Emilia Aarnio thinks that the most enjoyable was to work in the lab building the prototype. 鈥淎n engineer must know how to solve problems in practise and this assignment taught us exactly that. Even if our prototype design was very simple we run into a couple of problems when building it. I only wish we would have been given more time鈥, ponders Emilia.
Konecranes was expecting to receive a big bunch of well formulated proposals, but the results truly surprised them. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 anticipate for the groups to build demos and prototypes. Some of them were so advanced that you could think they were built on the year long project. This course only lasted less than two months and was done in groups of six students鈥, explains Ekku Rytk枚nen.
Professor Petri Kuosmanen feels that cooperation with companies from the first study year onwards is important because topics given by them are fresh and based on real industrial needs. He says that students are motivated to solve industrial cases also because they give a chance to familiarize oneself to the work environment the student will after graduation move on to.
Ekku Rytk枚nen, Innovation Specialist at KonecranesWe cooperate with universities not only to get fresh new ideas and creative solutions but also to increase the employer brand of Konecranes and attract the best talents.
