Freshmen engineers roll out improved video cart for campus videographer

Описание: The holiday season kicked off early this year for a Rice University staff member who received a welcome and much-needed gift from a team of freshman engineering students.

Sophia Burbano, Yung-Cheng Ko, Brad Mahung and Harry Zhu spent the past semester working on a portable filming studio for Brandon Martin, Rice’s senior videographer, as part of their Intro to Engineering Design coursework. Starting from a standard ready-made utility cart, the team designed and tested an enhanced prototype that incorporates lighting and microphone stands as well as storage compartments for lenses, cameras and other equipment.

“We found that similar carts with the integrated light and audio stands and modular systems cost upwards of $2,000 to $3,000,” Mahung said. “We decided to go with a lot of 3D printed components, which allowed us to create the same sort of design, while keeping the overall weight and the cost of the product down.

“The storage compartments and the 3D printed frame with the stands are two of the main innovations that we added, along with some weather proofing and a few other features added along the way.”

On its first real-world trial run, the cart, dubbed Flash Studio, assisted Martin for a video shoot with Rice President Reginald DesRoches.

“We’re very proud of that,” Mahung said.

The project required that students use engineering software to design and assess the performance of different elements of the prototype.

https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/tis-s...