2024

A small robot following a black line path next to some wodden houses.

Innovation Project 2024 - Recap

IP24 Winning Teams — Winning teams at the final event (17.12.2024) ETHZ pdz

‘SAVING CHRISTMAS’ - TOM STEIN

The innovation project 2024 was closed with a successful finale in the ETH main building. The 10 finalist teams attracted the attention of hundreds of visitors at the public event and were able to compete fairly to determine the winning teams (see pictures). The full recording of the event is available on external page YouTube.

Over a period of 10 weeks, the 465 participants from the third semester of mechanical engineering built different systems in 88 teams of 5 to 6 people each to solve the complex task of autonomous Christmas present delivery. Throughout the 5 sprints of 2 weeks each, each team developed their system iteratively. At the end, we have seen systems that use a measuring tape, a telescopic arm or a shooting mechanism to deliver the presents directly into the chimneys.

Team D15 after Sprint 1 ETHZ PDZ
Team D15 after Sprint 2 ETHZ PDZ
Team D15 after Sprint 3 ETHZ PDZ
Team D15 after Sprint 4 ETHZ PDZ
Team D15 after Sprint 5, ready for the qualification round ETHZ PDZ

IP24 Robot from Team D15 Speedy Santa — Robot "Speedy Santa" from Team D15 - 1st Place ETHZ pdz

IP24 Robot from Team E08 Santas Joyride — Robot "Santas Joyride" from Team E08 - 3rd Place ETHZ pdz

IP24 Robot from Team B01 BIBUP — Robot "BIBUP" from Team B01 - 2nd Place ETHZ pdz

Crowd of pople looking at a big screen at the final event in the ETH main building. — Final event in the ETH main building

Innovation Project 2024

‘SAVING CHRISTMAS’ - TOM STEIN

Santa is sick this year and can’t deliver the gifts himself.

So, who’s going to save Christmas? That’s where this year’s Innovation Project teams step in. Their challenge is to build an autonomous robot, about the size of a shoebox, capable of delivering gifts to houses in model size.

The robot needs to pick up the gifts and drop them through the chimneys of the houses along a set route. It must perform these tasks without any external control, operating entirely on its own.

There’s no obvious solution to this problem. The size of the robot and time constraints make it a tough challenge. Teams need to explore a variety of approaches, evaluate different possibilities, and refine their chosen solution to perfection. Creativity is key, as the task allows for many different engineering solutions.

In total, 88 teams will build their own robots, competing to see who can deliver the gifts most effectively and efficiently.

AGILE DEVELOPMENT AND PD|Z PRINCIPLES

The Innovation Project enables students to implement agile product development principles in a creative, competitive yet guided setting. By incorporating aspects of Scrum and Kanban methodologies, the teams operate in two-week sprint cycles and assess their interim outcomes at the end of each cycle.
Coaching Innovation Projects, a course specifically aimed at senior mechanical engineering students, provides guidance and support to coach engineering teams engaged in the Innovation Project. Using a range of product development principles, the coaches lead students through the sprints of the agile process for developing products. The foundation of these principles is a set carefully chosen practices arising from research conducted by pd|z.

AWARDS

To determine the winners of this year's competition, student teams will showcase the performance and creativity of their innovative systems. The final will take place on 17th December 2024 starting at 15:30 in ETH main building and feature 10 qualified teams competing against one another.