Richard Cooper

Industrial Design

Hi, my name is Richard.

I'm an Industrial Design student at Swinburne University, who is enthusiastic about automotive and transport design. Which lead me to join Team Swinburne. I highly value the work I have achieved in design at Team Swinburne. Joining Team Swinburne also creates opportunities to have insight into other formula student race teams' progress and team function. Through the testing and driving of TS_19 Team Swinburne's 2019 race car, issues of comfort and ergonomics came to my attention, which prompted me to design and manufacture a steering wheel that addressed these issues.

The FS250 is the fruit of extensive research with iterative prototypes along the way. The research involved all categories of motorsport racing, from go-karts to Formula 1, the market demand, and the importance of human factors in motorsport design. The FS250 has interchangeable handles, customisable to the driver's preference. The FS250 can also be disassembled for maintenance and interchanging of internal hardware. FS250 is made from Amplitex (Flax) composite material together with bio-resin, the FS250 is sustainable and more versatile as a long-term project. Once the FS250 is at the end of its racing cycle, the Amplitex composite components can be broken down to be used in another composite product.

FS250 features silicone handles that come in three different grades of tactile feedback (soft, medium and hard), all the various buttons and tactile components are laid out along the driver's thumb radius to maximise the ease of usability of the FS250.

The FS250, a customisable steering wheel designed for amateur motorsports, formula racing drivers and racing teams who lack the opportunity to tailor the steering wheel to their needs

FS250 Pit Lane Shot

FS250 Race Driver Helmet Point of View

Super Tomcat F14 Super Carrier View

Super Tomcat F14 Vertical Climb

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.