UC's top secret snow sport project

Amanda Jones

27 August 2014: Designing innovative snowboard bindings and working with Australian skeleton athletes, a team of industrial designers from the University of Canberra is helping give our winter sports athletes the edge.

The team, including Stephen Trathen, Eddi Pianca, Carlos Montana Hoyos and Bill Shelley, has been working on two innovative design projects as part of an ongoing collaboration between the University and the Australian Institute of Sport.

Stephen Trathen and Eddi Pianca are working on two innovative design projects with the AIS. Photo: Katherine Griffiths

The designs are so top secret we can't reveal them yet, but they involve designing custom built bindings for a Winter Olympian and implementing new design features on sleds for the Australian skeleton team.

For the skeleton project, the designers developed a series of composite material components and aerodynamic designs for five skeleton sleds, with the aim of increasing the aerodynamic advantage and steering control.

"The changes were slight with the aim of giving our athletes the edge, which in these competitions can mean the difference between a gold medal or the silver," said Dr Trathen, who is leading the skeleton project.

The researchers will be available to talk about their designs at Open Day on Saturday 30 August. Come and chat to our researchers and see where a career in industrial design can take you.