This week three BSSC students have been part of a program at Bendigo Tech School that allowed them—through virtual technology—to essentially do a workplacement with a Work Experience Supervisor from CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). They also had hands-on experience with hi-tech software that helped them bring some of their ideas into reality.
Braden Kneller, Mitchell Cohen and Cameron Lee have been exploring, creating and refining projects based on the following brief: they had to imagine a person with an issue relating to a bicycle and design a solution.
“I worked on designing and building a small container for bikes that will mount to different parts of the frame,” explained Mitch. “Probably the highlight was learning to use CAD software and watch my ideas come to life.”
“My project was to design a sliding latch system for paniers,” said Cameron, who agreed that using CAD for the first time was a real highlight. “But it was also about being in a setting that mimicked a real workplace. We worked 9 – 5 and were responsible to use our time wisely and to decide when we needed some advice and who to turn to.”
Haden also found the experience with CAD software really fantastic. “But we used other tools—like 3-D printers, and communication such as the skype calls to the CSIRO.” Haden’s project was a bike pedal for use in developing countries where they can’t get parts easily. “So the parts replicated bike bits that are already familiar, but modular and much cheaper.”
What a great liaison between CSIRO, Bendigo Tech and BSSC!
