Revolutionary Snowboard Invention Wins 2013 Irish James Dyson Award for Trinity Duo

Posted on: 24 September 2013

Two Trinity engineering students have won the 2013 Irish James Dyson award for their DIY snowboard invention.  Snow-sports addicts, Alberto Cañizares and Aoife Considine, developed a new system of binding technology for snow boards.

Boundless offers a 360 degree rotational attachment that goes between the snowboard and binding.  The system enables the user to quickly unlock, adjust and re-lock the bindings into another position without the need for a screwdriver.

When on flat surfaces snowboarders can move their feet into a parallel position to the board and skate along flat surfaces like a skate board. Boundless also allows snowboarders to sit comfortably on chairlifts so they do not have to hang their legs at awkward angles which can lead to injuries.

Engineering students, Aoife Considine and Alberto Cañizares, winners of the 2013 Irish James Dyson award. (Photo – Clodagh Kilcoyne)

Aoife and Alberto, who are passionate about snow sports, decided to work on a solution to the problems with snowboards as part of their third year Engineering Management module in Trinity. They will receive €2,400 from the James Dyson Foundation, progress to the international stage of the award, and be in with a chance of winning the grand prize of €35,000.

“This is a fantastic result for Aoife and Alberto who have repeatedly demonstrated award winning design innovation skills. The School of Engineering fosters creativity in the students by running group based design projects at all stages of the Degree. What places Trinity among the best in the world at teaching design is that the students work with real users on real problems and make tangible prototypes that are evaluated by these same end users,” commented Dr Gareth J. Bennett, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering Design.

“These modules are usually sponsored by industry, for example my colleague Dr Niamh Harty’s module sponsored by Daft, or are run as ‘Service Learning’ modules where the students work with user groups such as the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) or the National Disability Authority (NDA) to design solutions to benefit society. Our objective is that our excellent students, such as Aoife and Alberto, will build on their successes in Trinity Engineering and will set-up successful ventures that will benefit our economy,” Dr Bennett explained.