Thomas Grosjean and Joan Roig, two general engineering students from the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers , will participate in the sixth edition ofthe Solar and Energy Boat Challenge, which will take place in Monaco from July 2 to 6, 2019.
TheSolar and Energy Boat Challengeis a competition where young engineers can imagine the different modes of nautical propulsion of tomorrow, using only clean energy sources.
Thomas and Joan received support from the Arts et Métiers Foundation and have just won the Innovation Award for Best Community Project organized by PEYMPA last April for their boat prototype.
We meet a winning team whose spearhead is professionalization. Thomas Grosjean recalls that they had to become professional in order to be taken seriously and build a real professional network around their project. Companies quickly became interested in the work being done, providing financial support and partnerships.
What motivated you to enter this contest?
There are many reasons. First of all, when we started school, we all had the ambition to work for ecological transition and develop new energies. So, as soon as we heard about the Energy Boat Challenge competition, it seemed natural to us to take part. However, as the project progressed, we realized that we could acquire many skills for our future careers. At the same time, we were able to develop a very important professional network.
What were the main difficulties?
There were numerous difficulties in implementing and completing this project. The first was obviously the very tight deadline: less than a year to design and build a functional boat. In parallel with the design work, we had to find partners, manage the budget, and manage the teams. We can therefore conclude that the second problem was the lack of time.
What assistance did Arts et Métiers provide you with Arts et Métiers
Arts et Métiers supports Arts et Métiers in several ways. We were able to obtain premises to store our equipment and build our cockpit. Laboratories were able to provide us with specific equipment for the construction of our cockpit. We also received support from our professors, who contributed greatly to the technical aspects of the project. The campus communications department also regularly shares our information both externally and within the school. Indeed, actively participating in campus life in Aix is something that is very important to us.
How will you prepare for the challenge?
Preparation for the challenge takes place throughout the year, as all our work is governed by the competition rules. More specifically, we will test the various components before assembly, then we will conduct a test campaign with our boat in real conditions from June 10 to 16 in Marseille. This will allow us to correct any problems we may encounter. Our social media channels will also adapt to the challenge with daily content.
The perspective of Philippe Gras, electrical engineering teacher
How do you support students in their challenge?
Our contribution to this multidisciplinary project, combining organization, design (mechanical and electrical), and manufacturing, is based on goodwill and a high level of availability, in order to bring forth a wealth of innovative ideas.
It is divided into three areas: enabling students to use their knowledge (sometimes hidden in their memory) and providing them with useful bibliographic resources (research articles and theses), assisting them with their industrial partners, and guiding them from a "methods" perspective when choosing "tools (often digital) to model the different parts during design for manufacturing, reminding them of the fundamentals and allowing them to benefit from our experience.
