‘More real-world experience in degree programmes’ was the central aim for Michael Titze and Dr Martin Hellwig from the Faculty of Engineering and Bionics when they purchased a Berg pedal go-kart for the Mechatronics and Control Engineering Lab in 2022. The aim was to motivate students to engage in practical work outside of the curriculum, arouse their curiosity and thus encourage their own interests.
Over the last three years, the go-kart has been transformed into a development platform for electric vehicles together with students. Today’s vehicle bears little resemblance to the original pedal-powered kart for young people – much to the satisfaction of Michael Titze and Martin Hellwig. ‘The platform contains all the components of an electric drive system for a modern electric car: lithium-ion battery, CAN data bus, control units and electric motors,’ says Michael Titze, explaining the individual components during an on-site tour. The entire vehicle structure and most of the components were developed and built by students. A unique feature here is that all four wheels are electrically driven independently of each other and the torque can be specifically distributed to individual wheels. This enables the students to develop and experience innovative driving functions such as torque vectoring.
‘The go-kart is now in perfection: we have a platform that allows versatile projects from a wide range of engineering disciplines to dock onto it. Everyone makes a positive contribution to further development,’ explains Martin Hellwig ’The modular structure, which is identical to that of an electric car, prevents parallel projects from colliding and the vehicle’s function from being lost.’
The opportunity to get involved is not limited to the Faculty of Engineering and Bionics. ‘We have a lot of room for improvement in terms of practical work, collaboration with other HSRW laboratories and possible student projects and theses: whether modelling, electrical engineering, design, control engineering, sustainability, acceptance studies, etc., there are countless opportunities. We are open to dialogue and new ideas. You can meet us here every Friday morning in room 06 02 008: Just drop by.’