Optimus
Improving Volgren’s route bus manufacturing, performance and user experience using holistic design.
Investigators
- Associate Professor Robbie Napper
- Emeritus Professor Arthur de Bono
- Associate Professor Selby Coxon
- Dr Ilya Fridman Monash Art, Design and Architecture
- Dr Vincent Moug
- Peter Farrer
- Pouya Bagheri
- Michael Mills
- John Hoogendoorn
- Ashan Perera
- Matthew Glenn
- Cameron Glover
- Mandy Shuk Man Lau
- Jesse De Wald
- Nicholas Carnie
- Jessica Cassar
- Kieran John
- Jack Martinich
Co-investigators
- Dominic Lamanna
- Joseph Ganino Design Reality
Partner organisation
- Volgren Australia, Pty Ltd
Undertaken within
MADA’s design creativity and industrial design expertise supplemented Volgren’s engineering team perfectly, providing a fresh perspective to the product design process.
Michael Kearney, Engineering Manager of Volgren
The Optimus team redesigned Volgren’s core product, taking into account user needs and applying mass customisation principles, while using standardised designs where possible. The MADA team documented Volgren’s complex requirements into a product design specification. This resulted in the generation of new concepts which were primarily functional but also visually appealing. The concepts were then refined into production-ready components and MADA’s recommendations were incorporated into their standard manufacturing process. Dr Robbie Napper says “the wide range of stakeholders in the bus design, from depot mechanics to passengers, led to a complex set of product requirements. We applied a rigorous approach to the data and through studio research the results were taken all the way to a functional prototype vehicle that is now in national production.”
The strong relationship between MADA and Volgren has continued well past the Optimus project, testimony to the value of bringing together complementary skillsets from both organisations.