Updates on the Royal College of Art and Extreme E Research Partnership: winning projects
The 2021/22 Grand Challenge saw student teams develop and pitch innovative design and science based solutions in support of the theme - A New Economic Model for the Ocean (NEMO).
Under this theme, students were challenged to design innovative systems or products that can help change attitudes to the Ocean, and safeguard against increased damage. Issues of focus included environmental sustainability, plastic pollution, loss of marine habitats and new ocean economies.
The Grand Challenge kicked off with RCA academics travelling to meet the Extreme E ship, the St. Helena, in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland during the Arctic X Prix event in Season 1. The team installed a robotics package and data gathering equipment on the ship, allowing both RCA students and academics to acquire critical data during the ship’s Season 1 journey, which assisted in the formation of student solution proposals.
Professor Ashley Hall, Professor of Design Innovation at the Royal College of Art, said: “In this project, we’ve designed, built and installed an artificial intelligence system on Extreme E’s, St Helena’s ship in Greenland which sailed all the way across the North Atlantic to Sardinia and then to Poole in Dorset. Using AI and a camera system, we’re capturing all the objects on the surface of the ocean and then understanding what those objects are.
“Extreme E support our NEMO project by allowing access to the ship for our technology to be installed on board. They also connect us to the Scientific Committee, like Prof Lucy Woodall, so we have amazing access to the world’s top scientists around researching climate change and the world’s oceans. The benefit for the RCA students is that they can see this real time data that we’ve captured as staff researchers, enabling them to incorporate that research directly into their design projects.”
With 350 RCA students involved and 70 teams, 12 teams were shortlisted for the final stage of the Challenge. The finalists of the Grand Challenge then further developed their proposals and projects before presenting to a jury panel comprising of Lucy Woodall, Extreme E’s Ocean Expert and RCA Alumni, Dr Jiayu Wu, Reader in Intelligent Mobility Design at the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, along with Apple designer, Peter Russell-Clarke, Chief Designer of Logitech, Alastair Curtis, and chaired by Professor Paul Anderson, Dean of the School of Design at the RCA.
Their unique projects propose sustainable solutions to challenges affecting marine environments. Ranging from intelligent technologies like an aural navigation tool for marine life to inhabit new coral reefs to community to increasing seagrass restoration to creating interlinking aquaculture pods to prevent algae effects.
Professor Lucy Woodall, Extreme E’s Scientific Committee’s Ocean Scientist, says: “It was fascinating seeing the innovative projects the multidisciplinary groups of students developed. I was really captivated by the presentations they gave and understanding the rationale for the decisions they made.”
The winning three projects were Afterlife, Decibel and Reef Bells. Reef Bells entailed analogue instruments designed to be played by the ocean current on coral reefs. Mimicking the sound of a healthy reef, they act as an aural navigation tool for baby reef fish which hatch in open water and navigate to coral reefs by listening for the sounds from animals living there.
The second unique project, After Life, is an ocean memorial reef and funeral company, allowing individuals to continue the legacy of their loved ones underwater. Using a combination of sustainable materials, innovative technology and humane services, After Life reefs help coral ecosystems and reduce the heavy carbon emissions from traditional funerals whilst allowing people to remember their loved ones more meaningfully.
Lastly, Decibel helps noise pollution in a nature-based manner, a current potent threat to marine life. The project provides a structure where kelp and oysters can be grown, acting as a natural sound barrier between shipping highways while creating a regenerative marine permaculture system. This paves the way for a circular economy where oysters, fish, and kelp can be harvested while mitigating sound pollution.
Prizes of £2,500 were awarded based on the innovative design and emotional resonance underpinning the solution.
Paul Anderson, Dean of the School of Design at the Royal College of Art, commented: "It is wonderful to see our student design teams responding both emotionally and innovatively to this planet’s vital ecosystem and to clearly demonstrate that there is enormous potential to further protect and encourage our marine environment to prosper
“Extreme E welcomes the data collected with RCA aboard St Helena and looks forward to understanding how this information can help better inform decisions on the climate crisis along with finding solutions to assist a more sustainable future for the planet."
More about the shortlisted projects can be found on the RCA website.
