Multi-disciplinary student team works on future of mass transport and developing prototype pod

RS Components is supporting the University of Edinburgh’s efforts to design and build technology for the revolutionary Hyperloop transportation system of the future. The university’s Hyperloop team – also known as ‘HypED’ – is building a prototype pod for the SpaceX Pod Competition, which is being organised by leading aerospace manufacturer SpaceX and will take place at the company’s headquarters in California in late August 2017. HypED is one of 24 technical teams worldwide, and one of only four from Europe, that has been selected to compete as a finalist in the competition. The company is supporting HypED in the building of the prototype pod with the supply of key components including semiconductors, batteries, cabling and connectors, switches, heatsinks and a range of mechanical parts. In addition to RS, HypED is also being supported and financed by Cirrus Logic and the University of Edinburgh Innovative Initiative Grant. Hyperloop is a radical new concept for the future of mass transport, created and popularised in 2013 by Elon Musk. Using electric propulsion to accelerate a pod or capsule through a low-pressure tube, it offers the possibility to transport people and goods quickly and safely across distances of up to 900 miles and at speeds faster than a commercial airliner. Offering advantages such as being failsafe, environmentally friendly and very quiet, the concept has the potential to revolutionise transportation, potentially displacing high-speed rail and short-haul flights. “We are delighted and honoured to be involved in supporting the University of Edinburgh HypED team in this highly innovative and exciting challenge,” said Cameron Ward, senior vice president of Innovation at RS. “The Hyperloop concept is clearly a truly disruptive technology that could change the face of transportation. We look forward to bringing news from the HypED team and the SpaceX Pod Competition to our DesignSpark community, which itself was initiated to bring engineers, innovators, entrepreneurs and students together to share designs, ideas and exciting new concepts.”