Special Projects Program: A Sneak Peek into Our Plans for 2024!
It’s been quite a while between blog posts for me, so I thought I would take a few moments to outline what our Special Projects program is looking like (so far) for the year. First, however, there is some short background info for those reading this who perhaps have limited knowledge of our Special Projects program. This program is one of the key outputs for our BMW Group partners, where we provide design-focused skills and services to support their projects across robotics, intralogistics, AI, and other areas. This can be anything from 3D modelling, rendering and visualisation, animations, or graphics, to name a few. However, it often ends up being a mix of these skills and specialties, or sometimes new areas that require us to put our L Plates back on and discover new technologies and software.
This year, we will continue to work with the BMW TechOffice Munich and idealworks teams. Currently, our resident animation and motion graphics wiz, Epi, is working on some animations for an event in April which TechOffice is part of. This project is especially top-secret for now, but I can tell you that the level of quality Epi is producing is really quite amazing. I am very excited for this project to be made public so that Epi’s work can be enjoyed and appreciated by many. Other TechOffice projects this year include some texturing exports for AI defect detection training (just completed), plus an end-of-year presentation, for which we have yet to define the deliverables and content. Of course, there will likely be other projects that pop up along the way that we don’t know of yet. Also on the cards is a self-initiated project to present a concept for a re-designed SORDI website. The aim of this will be to keep our graphics and UX skills sharp, with the added benefit of showing what other skills and services we can offer BMW Group teams.
Late last year, Tim and I took the lead on the idealworks 3D scanning robot renders. For this project, we 3D-modelled the robot, dolly and charging dock, plus the VLX scanner that sits upon it. We spent a little bit of time early this year on another render with some lasers and a glowing grid pattern to suggest how the scanner reads and maps the environment around it. It would be at this point I direct you to our website or Instagram to see these renders of the ScanBot, which adorns the idealworks graphics we designed in the earlier part of 2023. This year, we are looking at producing a new package of iw.hub renders to replace the existing set of renders we did in late 2020 when the company launched. There are also some opportunities to contribute to the idealworks AnyFleet application in the form of new 3D models and assets, visualisation and new features.
More broadly, we are working on expanding our network within BMW Group to bring in new Special Projects and new teams, which we hope will create more internship opportunities for QUT design students overseas, too. Our existing connections at BMW Plant Hams Hall (UK) and Logistics Innovation + Robotics (Munich) have expressed interest in projects with us this year, but for now, we must wait for the all-important green light from the respective management or confirmation of our level of engagement, before we can really kick-off any new projects with either. In between the big projects, we’re continuing to upskill so that we can bring new knowledge into our Special Projects program and trickle this down to the Internships program to the benefit of the students. We’re also working on some additional or revised display 3D print models, branding, website updates, posters, graphics and the progress reports in the background.
2024 is shaping up to be another year full of learning, creating, and delivering. We are excited to share the project work with each of you throughout the year.
Jordan Domjahn
Senior Design Associate