Centenary Challenge “Imagining the Transport of the Future”
To mark its 100th anniversary, ESTACA launched an internal challenge on the theme of “Imagining the Transport of the Future” for all 3rd and 4th year students. Objective: to suggest innovative approaches to low-carbon, intelligent, connected and autonomous transport. From the 6 finalists, 3 projects received prizes from the challenge’s partners: Dassault Aviation, Safran and Akkodis.
Twenty-five academic projects awarded the Centenary label
Since this challenge was launched last October, 1st and 2nd year engineering students were invited to do a project in teams of 3 to 5, focusing on the transport of the future in a variety of ways: research, industrial partnerships, business start-ups or associative projects… Until January, the School collected and analyzed 25 “ESTACA Centenary” projects representing all its options: aeronautics, automotive, naval, rail and space, at its sites in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Laval and Bordeaux.
Six teams selected for challenge final
An initial selection was made in March, taking into account the innovative nature of the project in terms of sustainable development issues, its maturity and market potential, as well as the quality of the work submitted. Six finalist projects were invited to present their work to a jury of professionals on April 10:
- Black Gold Sailor, design and commercial deployment of an autonomous robot for harbor and coastal cleaning
- E-Dolly, design, production and development of an electric robot designed to assist gliders in their movements on the ground
- NavSight, development of an autonomous navigation solution for a fleet of GPS-less drones
- Formula Team, design and manufacture of an electric single-seater racing car to take part in the Formula Student challenge
- CHAPAS, design and construction of a railway test vehicle to facilitate experiments and research to meet the needs of customers involved in the sector
- CubeSat-Terrarium, modeling, design and fabrication of a terrarium housing pod to demonstrate the viability of self-sufficient ecosystems in space.
Three prize winners honored by the event's corporate partners
The final jury was made up of representatives from the École and transport industry professionals, partners of the event: Safran, Dassault Aviation and Akkodis presented 3 awards:
- The Sustainable Development Prize was awarded to the project Black Gold Sailor, represented by Tom Baudrin, Baptiste Brieu, Rémi Hangard and Mahé Limousin.
- The New Mobilities prize was awarded to the project Bluesmart Robotics, represented by Jeanne Reynaud, Antoine Masson and Halil Devret.
- The Innovation prize was awarded to the project Navsight represented by Clémence Sabot, Maxime Le Clair, Sasha Contrepois and Quentin Landon.
Members of the jury appreciated the quality of the projects presented, some of which directly echoed technologies that manufacturers are currently working on for the future.
