UiTM wins the Perodua Eco Challenge 2017
This year’s prestigious Perodua Eco Challenge saw ten local academic institutions participating to design new components and accessories for their Perodua range of vehicles that fulfill the ECO design paradigm which is an acronym for Environment, Creativity and Originality. This means that the new car parts or accessories designed by the participants must embody and fulfill all three requirements to be in the running to win.
The Perodua Eco Challenge was first held in 2009 and offers Malaysian students and faculty members from Malaysia’s higher-learning institutions an avenue to showcase their creativity and design prowess. For Perodua Eco Challenge 2017, 27 higher-learning institutions were invited to pitch for the challenge and ten were selected to compete based on the depth of their initial project proposal as well as a host of other factors including an assessment of a working prototype by a panel of judges.
The 10 institutions selected were – Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UiTM), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO), Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
UiTM’s winning Techno Seat prototype pops open to reveal a USB charging port and storage space too
These 10 institutions worked closely with Perodua’s own R&D teams and mentors who exposed them to real-world industry practices so as to offer a more practical aspect to their education. Ultimately, UiTM emerged as the overall winner with their novel ‘Techno-Seat’ prototype which consists of a back seat with a hinged latch that reveals a hidden storage compartment. Pop the hatch open and you get access to some storage space and a USB charging port along with an LED light so you can see what you’re doing in the dark. It’s quite literally a brilliant idea. This success also earned UiTM RM20,000 in prize money. The complete list of winners and their submissions are below:
