Student Project Support

CUEA  currently contributes financially and supports the grant approval process of Dyson Projects and Student-led Project and Industry Partnerships (SPIP) within the Engineering Department alongside other sponsors and CUED academic staff.  There are a number of Societies and Clubs  in the Engineering Department that benefit from these schemes.

SPIP update: Cambridge University Eco Racing - August 2024

The following update report is from Cambridge University Eco Racing [CUER]. CUER is one of several student teams which we, the Cambridge University Engineers’ Association [CUEA] support financially. The support from CUEA, and a number of other companies and organisations, comes via a Department of Engineering initiative: the Student-Led Projects and Industry Partnership (SPIP) scheme, to which the student teams bid and pitch for funding and manufacturing support. The pitches are heard and reviewed by a panel of Department, CUEA and industry members.


New Helia Testing Rig for Upcoming Events and Competitions


Over the past few months, Cambridge University Eco Racing [CUER] have hit several significant milestones and embarked on exciting new projects. 


The Electrical Engineering Team has been working on a ‘hardware-in-the-loop’ [HiL] testing rig to check the functionality of all the components involved in the electrical system of Helia, the team's 6th solar car. This HiL rig will help the team ensure the smooth running of the systems and perform comprehensive tests to ensure high performance and quality. It will allow the team to simulate conditions they may face during upcoming events and competitions and gather data that is crucial to improving the vehicle. The rig consists of three main sections, the low voltage section, the battery packs, and the connections between them, mainly the battery monitoring system [BMS]. The BMS is another significant development from the last few months, and provides a means of reliable communication throughout the system and monitors the conditions of the battery packs to ensure they remain in safe boundaries. 


The Mechanical Engineering Team are hard at work fixing the rear suspension design for Helia due to some instability issues discovered during testing. This will see members of the team work closely with CUED technicians to machine a new upright as well as work through design iterations with other advisors. The Mechanical Team have also been developing CAD models of the new battery pack designs and producing 3D printed fixing to hold the new Li-ion battery cells. 


The Aerodynamics Team has been focused on CUER’s new vehicle, SC7, set to debut in 2025. They have been working on the development of the body shell following large changes in competition regulations. 


The whole team also ran an outreach day at a local primary school, teaching children about the importance of physics and maths in motorsport.


Article supplied by Freya Harris, Team Principal, CUER



SPIP update: Cambridge University Space Flight - September 2024

2023-2024 has proven to be one of the best years in recent CUSF history. Following the success of Aquila, an M-class solid rocket launched in the Mojave desert summer 2023 (3km apogee), CUSF has been hard at work delivering 2

major project streams: continued high-powered rocketry (HPR), and liquid rocket engines. Both of these programs have focused on building and consolidating CUSF' s technical expertise in our pursuit of the Karman Line, including

onboarding a record number of freshers.


We enjoyed 2 major successes at the end of this year, both in the same week. We launched Tigris, an I-class HPR from Machrihanish air base in Scotland. Entering as part of the Mach-24 rocketry competition, we were given a target of 1.5km and achieved 1545m - an impressive error of only 3%. Detailed procedures on the day meant that we were ready to launch with only 3 minutes of prep time. The rocket successfully deployed its chute at apogee; all parts were recovered with minor damage. This was a testament to the team's intensive aerodynamics analysis and planning, and to the amazing support of the student rocketry community.


We were also thrilled with the successful firing of White Dwarf, our bi-propellant regeneratively cooled engine. Fired 4 times in one day, we achieved a specific impulse of 195s. During last firing, we reached 3.7kN peak thrust, which is 247% of the design point and one of the highest at the Race 2 Space competition. It was a great opportunity to test our hardware in a safe environment, network with experts in the field, and engage with other student teams - each were amazing competitors, and they continue to inspire us to aim high.


As we retire White Dwarf, we look forward to the future firing of White Giant, the engine’s successor, later this year. White Giant has been designed to reach up to 32kN of thrust, marking it as the most powerful engine fired in the UK by any company, let alone student, in the last 30 years. We are also continuing to develop stronger rockets, with Panthera, an L-class solid rocket scheduled for late August, and more beyond. Ultimately, we have the ambitious plan to combine

the two programs to build a liquid rocket that could be launched next year.


Throughout this year we have taken significant efforts to expand our connections with the wider rocketry community in the UK. While we are immensely proud of our own work and are keen to share our experience, we still have so much to

learn from our peers and professionals in the industry. Our deepest gratitude goes to Alastair John for organising the Race2Space Competition and conference, and to Airborne Engineering for allowing us to use their facilities for firing White Dwarf. We also extend our thanks to Sara Lai and Exotopic for organising Mach24 and its accompanying conference. Thank you to the amazing community of student teams for their support and collaboration. Thank you of course to the Cambridge University Engineering Department and the Whittle Lab for supporting our mission and manufacturing key components for us. 


Lastly, our heartfelt thanks go to the CU Engineers’ Association for sponsoring our projects - they would not have been possible without you.


Per ardua, ad astra!

William Yu and Iga Ratajczak, Co-Presidents of CUSF

SPIP Project: Cambridge University Robotics - October 2024

The following update report is from Cambridge University Robotics [CUR] about their various

projects. CUR is one of several student teams which we, the Cambridge University

Engineers’ Association [CUEA] support financially. The support from CUEA, and a number of

other companies and organisations, comes via a Department of Engineering initiative: the

Student-Led Projects and Industry Partnership (SPIP) scheme, to which the student teams

bid and pitch for funding and manufacturing support. The pitches are heard and reviewed by

a panel of Department, CUEA and industry members.


Author: Ananya Vijay


Inmoov

The Inmoov project focusses on building a humanoid robot, which is based on an open-source

model. In addition, members of the team also have license to create and incorporate new

functions which they think are meaningful. Last year, the foundation for electrical engineering

and software engineering was set up. The electrical team worked on an Arduino, while the

software team wrote code to allow image detection of human joints. The budget was mostly spent

on purchasing essential equipment for building the robots, for instance electrical sensors,

mechanical parts including a remote control for mobility, a LIDAR sensor and cameras. Some of

the budget was also spent on materials for 3-D printing. The plan for this year is to create more

synergy between the mechanical, electrical and software teams in order to create a full integrated

system.


Combat Robotics

Over the past year, the team has been designing and building a combat robot, which was taken

to FightFest 2024 in August. FightFest is an annual competition of Featherweight robots, from

both robot enthusiasts and university teams. This year it was held at Magna in Rotherham in front

of a live audience and filmed by Extreme Robots TV. For the design of the robot, the team built on

the work from previous years but made some significant improvements in terms of the robot’s

base structure and weapon capability. They learnt many lessons at the competition from the

other competitors and they will incorporate their recommendations into the design for this

coming year, with the aim to compete at FightFest again in 2025. With the provided funding, they

were able to improve the motors in the robot and get the spinning drum (used for the weapon)

made from Hardox which provided a lot of durability. Additionally, it allowed the purchase of the

necessary spare materials for repairs during the competition weekend as with every fight they

sustained significant damage.


Neurova

Neurova is a relatively new project, with the aim to build a brain machine interface (BMI) to control

a robot with a person’s mind. As of now, the circuitry for the first design is almost ready for testing.

The team’s next goal is developing the equipment to read brain activity and control a device with

a binary output. They have bought all electrical components required for the first design and have

sourced some second-hand medical grade electrodes.

In the future, they would like to increase the complexity of the communication they can have with

the robot and enable it to respond to more complicated instructions. At the moment, they plan

to develop and improve their own design, testing it to its limits – however, eventually they would

like to collaborate with a company specialising in building EEGs (electroencephalographs) or

BMIs and integrate their technology into the project.


Wise Angel

The Wise Angel team are working to build an autonomous drone. The project has three divisions

- ground station control, robotics, and AI. So far, they have assembled drones Mark 1 and Mark

2, set up a raspberry pi to communicate with the Pixhawk flight controller and log data through

the pi camera. Currently, they can use a remote control to fly the drone. However, their aim is to

set up and use a ROS supported microcontroller - Nvidia Jetson Orin Nano Board - to

communicate with the flight controller for autonomous movement. Furthermore, they plan to

set up an antenna system to reliably stream video data from the drone to the ground station over

long distances. They also plan to run AI models on the captured data for image segmentation,

object detection and control purposes.

SPIP Project: Full Blue Racing - coming soon