"Innovation comes from free thinking – not boundaries."

This is what Wichita State University graduate student Balaji Kartikeyan says inspired him to create the student group Hypershocks, a group that recently traveled to Texas A&M University to compete in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition.

Hyperloop is a new form of transportation conceptualized in 2013 by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors. It would allow cross-continental transportation at speeds of nearly 800 miles per hour by pressurized capsules traveling through low-pressure tubes.

Kartikeyan stumbled across the SpaceX competition when looking for a job and was convinced by his advisor, James Steck, professor of aerospace engineering, to create a team for the competition. In the span of four months, the team designed a pod concept that was scalable, allowing the dimensions to be adjusted depending on what was being transported.

“You could put a rocket in this if you wanted,” says Brent Quade, the team’s aerodynamics sub-group leader. 

Building a team

Kartikeyan went outside his normal network of peers to find people to assist in the design. They utilized Shocker Blast emails sent to students along with the TV advertising around campus. As the team grew, they developed five sub-groups: aerodynamics, structure, communication, electronics and instrumentation.

Having specific goals for each group helped distribute the workload and required team members to communicate what they were doing so the group stayed on task.

“You don’t want to let the team down,” says Quade. “It forced me to stay on top of my classes because I knew this was something I wanted to participate in.”

Designing a Hyperloop pod in four months came with a steep learning curve for the team. Members would watch videos and take online courses in addition to their WSU classes to learn what they needed to design certain elements. This included Kartikeyan, who learned how to design a compressor in less than a month solely on his own. Put in perspective, a compressor is usually designed and tested by an entire team of engineers over the course of a year.

One of the other major challenges the team encountered was using existing technology to create a product that has no precedent.

“If you want to build a car, you know how to do that – this has never been done,” says Kartikeyan.

Looking forward

Kartikeyan says he hopes to develop the team to include students from all the colleges at WSU, bringing new perspectives and ideas.

“This is for things different and unique – things life-changing,” Kartikeyan says. “I want everybody coming together to build something that changes everything. It pushes limits, and that’s an experience you have to have.”