Previous Projects

XFrame - Pole Europe 2K'7 Summer 07 — by Michael Raps — last modified 2008-02-13 16:56

Human beings have always carried loads - women and men tie their children to the back, hunters carry the pray home, porters suffer under the weight of pianos. Also in sports weights have to be taken along, e.g. on backpacking or mountain climbing adventures. An additional field of interest is medicine and rehabilitation where support structures or artificial limbs need to be attached to the human body. Always with the intention to make the carrying process as convenient and as safe as possible. The Xframe project targets for all these applications by asking for a novel solution to attach loads to the individual human body in an ergonomic way to make carrying comfortable and avoiding high pressure areas or long term injuries to the orthopaedic apparatus. The multi-disciplinary teams involved in this POLE Xframe project shall have participants of the following backgrounds: _ industrial and product design _ biomedical engineering _ mechanical engineering _ electrical engineering _ plastics technology and material science _ process management

Landscape and Urbanity - Pole Europe 2K'6 Summer 06 — by Michael Raps — last modified 2008-02-13 16:55

Davos city is a world renowned tourist destination in the Swiss alps which is famous both for its function as a convention centre, as well as for its climatic spas. The task of the POLE 2K'6 course will involve the design of various trial plans for the area of a centrally located car park, which as of yet has not been overbuilt. The projects are supposed to suggest possible spatial concepts, bearing in mind a sustainable development of both the space involved and the location's future use. At the same time, the projects are intended to reinforce the identity of the location. Major considerations should involve the urbanistic quality, sensible management regarding the density and allocation of the location's future use, as well as the clarification of the call progress state within the perimeter concerned. During the first phase of the project, the students from ETSAB will design urban master plans, from which a choice will be made at the beginning of March 2006. During the Summer term of 2006, these master plans will serve as the basis for further development which will be worked on by international and interdisciplinary teams. These teams consist of students from different universities worldwide who are spezialized in fields such as architecture, construction engineering, construction management, traffic engineering, architecture, process management etc.

SmartLight - Pole Europe 2K'6 Summer 06 — by Michael Raps — last modified 2008-02-13 17:01

POLE is an initiative for innovation in learning and teaching at European and US Universities. The POLE philosophy is focusing on the following six main issues: Interdisciplinary Team Work, Internationality, Process Design, Real World Problems, Use of Modern Information and Collaboration Technologies and Industry Mentorships. The POLE course will integrate the disciplines industrial and product design, biomedical engineering, computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, plastics technology and material science. Students of the process management curriculum will coordinate this interdisciplinary and international project. Theme: Innovative Concepts for Acquisition and Conveyance of Information in the Operating Room Task: The operating room environment in hospitals is undergoing dramatic technological changes due to constant maturing of computer assisted technologies. Examples include amongst others endoscopic equipment, device interconnectivity and navigation. Hand-eye-coordination, as one of the fundamental ergonomic aspects in surgery, should be addressed through further integration of new technologies. The specific focus of the project will be the design of illumination aids (i.e. a novel operation room lamp, a so far unexploited resource) where a vast opportunity landscape is open for in-situ information conveyance through high density sensor integration as well as context- and location-oriented information display. The multi-disciplinary teams involved in this POLE SmartLight project shall have participants of the following backgrounds: industrial and product design biomedical engineering computer science electrical engineering mechanical engineering plastics technology and material science process management.

Vertical Classroom - Pole Europe 2K'5 Summer 05 — by Michael Raps — last modified 2008-02-13 17:03

Vertical Classroom is looking for a sustainable concept regarding the new university campus within the urban perimeter. It tries to find answers regarding the spatial and architectural implementation of new teaching and learning concepts with regards to multi-storey buildings. In doing so, a new typology for multi-storey buildings is to be developed, which is a field that has not been researched until now; the drafting of vertical spatial correlations and topical links are intended to contribute to the identity of the various learning clusters. A concrete project intends to put the concepts thus developed to the test. This project includes the extension of the university by means of an event hall, which is also intended to provide alternative modes of usage within a sophisicated urban development perimeter. The task will be dealt with by interdisciplinary and international teams, which include students from various fields such as architecture, civil engineering, process design, construction management, light design, and education science, all from various universities in Europe and the United States. The course begins on March 7th, 2005, with a six-day long kick-off in Windisch/Switzerland, and will conclude with the final presentations which will be given on June 30th and July 1st 2005, in Windisch/Switzerland. During term time, work within the teams will take place both through actual team work and via internet. A first stage from October 2004 to February 2005 will be the working out of preliminary studies by students of ETSAB and the University of Applied Sciences Aargau. During the Summer term of 2005, these studies will serve as the basis for further development which will be worked on by international and interdisciplinary teams.

CanPlus© - Pole Europe 2K'5 Summer 05 — by Michael Raps — last modified 2008-02-13 17:04

POLE Europe is an initiative for innovation in learning and teaching at European Universities. The POLE Europe philosophy is focusing on the following six main issues: Interdisciplinary Team Work, Internationality, Process Design, Real World Problems, Use of Modern Information and Collaboration Technologies and Industry Mentorships. POLE Europe's course will integrate the disciplines mechanical engineering, industrial design, plastics and materials technology, economy, food sciences and food technology. Students of the process management curriculum of the UAS Aargau will coordinate this interdisciplinary and international project. Nestlé developed the first milk food for infants in 1867. Since then the company has become and remained a world leader in the field of nutrition, but Nestlé also strongly expanded in the fields of research for clinical applications and lifestyle products. One of the most traditional and successful Nestlé products is condensed milk. The design of the well known can for this product was not changed since the very beginning. But lately, this packaging has gone out of fashion. A new design is sought-after.This development will be the topic of the interdisciplinary POLE Europe project. For the development of a novel and innovative packaging, the following directions have been identified: new materials with - potentially - high-tech features; re-closure capability; variable appearance according to cultural adoption, e.g. in Latin America, Asia, Europe; new filling and packaging procedures. Legal aspects in the context of protection by international patents have to be evaluated. Nestlé has offered the mentorship by a team of its own experts to accompany the project. The project shall attract and is offered to advanced or graduate students from the fields: Food Sciences and Food Technology, Plastics Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Economics, Industrial Design, Law, Marketing, Process Management.