Students build pod for Musk’s Spacex Hyperloop competition
Agroup of Arizona college students are competing against teams from around the world in hopes of impressing Elon Musk. The tech guru’s company, Spacex, is hosting its third-annual Hyperloop Pod Competition July 22. Spacex hopes to use the high-speed transportation system to transport people between cities at a fast rate, eu.azcentral.com wrote.
Three years ago, 13 students formed AZ Loop. Now the team has more than 60 members from Arizona State University and Embry-riddle Aeronautical University.
The team created a self-propelled, model-size pod that is about 10 feet long and travels on a track. It has navigation, propulsion, braking and stability mechanisms.
Undergraduate and graduate students came together to work on the project. Not only are students studying engineering, some are majoring in graphic design and business.
Surya Rajagopalan, a PHD student studying aerospace engineering, said, “It’s the variety of people that we get to work with that increase our knowledge.”
Rajagopalan said even though many of the students working on the project are undergrads, he has learned different skills outside of his study of focus.
“I have been amazed by their knowledge and I have learned a lot,” he said.
Mykol Reklaitis said working with different majors helped him get a different perspective.
“As an electrical major, I think about, ‘Oh, that wire is going to burn’,” said the 20-year-old. “As a mechanical major, they are going to think of other different problems.”
Preparing for the competition hasn’t been easy for the students. According to Rajagopalan, things didn’t always go according to plan.
“When we make a design, we make a design based on our targets,” said the mechanical and systems integration lead.
However, issues like funding interfered with the original design.
Materials and manufacturing lead Leann Scott said the team had to redesign systems to solve their funding issue.
“We had originally source a different motor but then we had to backtrack because we couldn’t afford it and we had to design a different one,” Scott said.
Another challenge the team faced was its size, according to Azloop president Joshua Bowen.
“It’s challenging by nature to coordinate this many people with this big of a project, but it turned out great,” he said.
He said at times the team fluctuated to more than 100 students.
Azloop will compete at the Spacex Hyperloop competition in Hawthrone, California, on July 22. The competition focuses on maximum speed.
“There’s going to be a lot of amazing teams that have poured blood, sweat and tears into this competition,” Reklaitis said.
To prepare for the competition, Azloop received help from Composites One, a company that provides materials and technical solutions. Scott said the company gave the team pointers with the design.
“That was really beneficial for our team,” she said.
Also, the team was able to test its project on a 150-foot track and 25-foot pressure chamber on ASU’S Polytechnic Campus. According to the university, the team is the only US team with a pressure chamber.
Rajagopalan said he hopes Azloop will reach the top speed this year. Last year’s winner, WARR, had a speed of more than 200 miles per hour.
“Nothing is going to compare to actually turning it on and running it full speed down the track, so I’m really excited to see that,” Bowen said.