IdeaSquare CERN

Design Factory Melbourne

An advanced autonomous response for bushfire prevention.

The CBI A3 program is a yearly collaboration between DFM and Switzerland-based science organisation CERN’s Ideasquare lab, along with other partner institutions in the Design Factory Global Network. Students are challenged to use design innovation to develop solutions that connect technology with societal needs. The concepts are framed around a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and utilise the latest technologies developed by CERN.

This year, our team of students explored SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and how it could relate to their local context of Melbourne, Australia. The students sought to address regional Victoria’s ability to respond to intense bushfires. Using CERN technology, the team designed an automated, eco-friendly bushfire detection system, Helios, which uses drones to detect and begin extinguishing bushfires in remote areas, and immediately relays bushfire information back to emergency services personnel to ensure quick response times.

The Helios system is also designed with the environment in mind, as Exodus runs on solar power and uses an eco-friendly inert gas as the extinguishing agent, saving water. These measures work to reduce the CO2 emissions produced by Helios, which in turn aims to lessen the effects of climate change which are causing more intense and frequent bushfires.

Concept by Bhishag Mohan (Communication Design), Shivani Pradhan (Architecture) & Pratibha Kohli (Lifestyle/Product Design).

Industry Partner: IdeaSquare CERN

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Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.