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Vehicle Design Competition for People with Disabilities to Win $ 25,000 from Merlin Mobility Foundation

Vehicle Design Competition for People with Disabilities to Win $ 25,000 from Merlin Mobility Foundation

Merlin Mobility Foundation

Merlin Mobility Foundation

Organisation à but non lucratif, Parcourir ses opportunités similaires

DÉTAILS OPPORTUNITÉ

Récompense totale
0 $
Organisation à but non lucratif
Date limite
14 sept. 2020
Niveau d'études
Type d'opportunité
Spécialités
Financement d'opportunité
Financement complet
Pays éligibles
Région éligible
Toutes les régions

Merlin Mobility invites designers around the world to participate in a competition to design and improve mobility for people with disabilities using advanced technology such as robots, machine learning, cameras, and the like.

Competition Categories:

Design the future of mobility for people with physical, sensory, and/or cognitive disabilities.

  • Category 1: Submit a technically mature design for an autonomous, electric passenger vehicle that can accommodate a wheelchair or electric scooter in both the driver and passenger position and capable of operating at highway speeds. The design may be for an entirely new vehicle or an adaptation of an existing or soon to be released vehicle. Ingress and egress should meet the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and be at a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of five or higher.
  • Category 2: Submit any creative ideas that may solve the problem of providing transportation solutions for people with disabilities, which may include personal vehicles or mass transit. This category includes, but is not limited to, ideation stage concepts that are ADA compliant with any physical, cognitive, or sensory disability in mind. This opportunity allows entrants to be as creative and innovative as possible. Examples include concepts for intelligent wheelchairs that integrate with vehicles, door handles, window controls, steering wheels, and any new technology that can support the future of accessible EVs for people with disabilities.

Prize:

Category #1 Winner will receive up to 25,000 USD.

 Category #2:

  • First Place Winner will receive up to 6,000 USD.
  • Second Place Winner will receive up to 3,000 USD.
  • Third Place Winner will receive up to 1,000 USD.

In-kind prizes:

The Merlin Venture Accelerator: In addition to the monetary prizes above, top submissions will receive an invitation to participate in the Merlin Venture Accelerator, which will take place virtually following the Prize selection. If selected, you will connect to experts with extensive industry experience that can help you turn your design into a commercializable product or feature to be included as part of a larger project. This mentorship opportunity will also help expand your network and connections, leading to additional advancement in your career.

Participation Conditions:

  • The innovator will agree that the materials provided to the Sponsor in connection with the Submissions become Sponsor's property and will not be returned.
  • Innovator grants Sponsor an irrevocable, worldwide right to use any and all materials provided to Challenge Sponsor in connection with the Submissions, and the names, likenesses, voices, and images of all persons appearing in the Submission, for advertising, promotion, and publicity in any manner and in any medium now known or hereafter devised throughout the world in perpetuity.
  • The Sponsor will require all content and assets submitted in connection with Submission by a Finalist to be licensed under open-source licenses that permit free distribution, derivative works, and use in commercial and non-commercial settings as provided in Challenge-Specific IP Agreement.
  • Describe your idea. Include as much detail as possible, a description of any visual assets, and an explanation of why and how your submission will make transportation more accessible for individuals with disabilities. Translation of all written and video submissions into English is required.
  • Include at least one visual illustration of your submission. File type options include CAD, PDF, JPEG, PNG, GIF. Please note, we will automatically disqualify all entries without a visual supplement.
  • It is optional to submit an explainer video of your submission. The maximum video length is 3 minutes. Your video must be accompanied by a written description of the video to make your submission accessible to all judges.
  • The Challenge is open worldwide, except where prohibited or restricted by national or local law. Void wherever restricted or prohibited by US law.
  • No specific qualifications or expertise in the fields of disability, accessibility, autonomous vehicles, or electric vehicles are required. Prize organizers encourage all individuals and non-expert teams to compete and propose new solutions.
  • Individual entrants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of application. Team entrants must have a Team Leader, who is at least 18 years of age, authorized to sign the IP Agreement on behalf of the team and receive any prize award on behalf of the group. A minor (under 18) can participate in the challenge as long as there is a guardian (a parent) present to execute any agreements, supervise the submission, and provide consent as necessary.
  • Employees and the immediate families of the primary sponsors, their parent companies, subsidiaries, representatives, and advertising/promotional agencies must make their relationship known to the Challenge organizers before submitting and must receive written permission from the Challenge organizers before submission.
  • The entrant, whether an individual or a team, may submit multiple entries to the Challenge, and may submit multiple entries per category, but each entry must be a substantially different design idea.
  • Any submission found to be misrepresentative, plagiarized, or sharing an idea that is not their own will be automatically disqualified.
  • A written description of the visual images must accompany all visual submissions for accessibility-friendly judging.

Category 1 Judging Criteria:

Proposal Quality (15 Points):         

  • Is the proposal clear with concise writing?
  • Are there thoughtful and complete explanations of how the proposed design concept meets the specifications listed in Category 1 or Category 2 criteria?
  • Is the proposal accompanied by a CAD file (or other file formats) that is clear and comprehensive?

Feasibility/ Manufacturability (20 points):

  • Is your design consistent with Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) principles? IE, does focus on reducing time-to-market and total production costs by prioritizing both the ease of manufacture for the product’s parts and the simplified assembly of those parts into the final product?
  • Does your design leverage existing manufacturing capabilities?
  • What are the likelihood and feasibility of it being manufactured on a scale that is cost-effective?
  • What are the primary materials used?

Practicality (10 Points):        

  • What is the quality of the explanation and supporting evidence for why a solution designates at that particular maturity level?
  • How would your solution fit in with current regulations and other government environments?
  • How are the users and passengers secured in the vehicle? NHTSA compliant safety features would be ideal.
  • Would this provide more accessible and safer transportation opportunities to the target user?

Marketability (10 Points)     

  • Is this idea culturally appropriate and inclusive to the target audience you defined?
  • What is the total size of the market opportunity or user group?
  • Are there any proven use cases?
  • Would the user be excited about this product and its design? Why?
  • What is the overall cost for the end-user? Is that cost economical for end-users?
  • What is the manufacturing cost of producing this vehicle?

Creativity (15 Points):

  • Describe how your solution could be altered to fit different disabilities or user contexts.
  • How would the user navigate with the external world outside of the vehicle?
  • Tell us the story of how you came up with the idea and why this is important to you.
  • Did you source from a variety of places, including personal experiences, to create the idea? Is this an original and creative idea?
  • What makes this idea/product unique compared to what is already available?
  • How is it “out-of-the-box” thinking?

Innovation (20 Points):         

  • Novelty or creativity of the proposed approach.
  • The elegance of design.
  • Describe how the innovation overcomes limitations and constraints of existing technologies or commercial products.

Alignment (10 Points):

How does your product demonstrate traits reflective of the Merlin Mobility Foundation’s mission of making transportation accessible for all?

Category 2 Judging Criteria:

Proposal Quality (15 Points):         

  • Is the proposal clear with concise writing?
  • Are there thoughtful and complete explanations of how the proposed design concept meets the specifications listed in Category 1 or Category 2 criteria?
  • Is the proposal accompanied by a CAD file (or other file formats) that is clear and comprehensive?

Feasibility/ Manufacturability (20 points):

  • Is the proposal clear with concise writing?
  • Are there thoughtful and complete explanations of how the proposed design concept meets the specifications listed in Category 1 or Category 2 criteria?
  • Is the proposal accompanied by a CAD file (or other file formats) that is clear and comprehensive?

Practicality (10 Points):        

  • How would your solution fit in with current regulations and other products on the market?
  • How will users and passengers be secured in the vehicle?
  • Does the design meet NHTSA compliant safety guidelines? And if not, where are they deficient?
  • Would this provide easier and safer transportation opportunities to the target user? How?
  • What is the overall cost for the user? Is that cost economical for the end-user?
  • What is the potential carbon impact of this product?

Marketability (10 Points)     

  • Is this idea culturally appropriate and inclusive to the target audience you defined?
  • What is the total size of the market opportunity or user group?
  • Are there any proven use cases?
  • Would the user be excited about this product and its design? Why?

Creativity (10 Points):

  • Describe how your solution could be altered to fit different disabilities or user contexts.
  • How would the user navigate with the external world outside of the vehicle?
  • Tell us the story of how you came up with the idea and why this is important to you.
  • Did you source from a variety of places, including personal experiences, to create the idea? Is this an original and creative idea?
  • What makes this idea/product unique compared to what is already available?
  • How is it “out-of-the-box” thinking?

Alignment (10 Points):

How does your product demonstrate traits reflective of the Merlin Mobility Foundation’s mission of making transportation accessible for all?

About Merlin Mobility Foundation:

Merlin Mobility Foundation is a nonprofit founded to leverage advanced technology to ensure that transportation is accessible for all.

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