Sail Car—An EPS©ISEP 2019 Project

This paper provides an overview of the development of a Sail Car within the European Project Semester (EPS), the international multidisciplinary engineering capstone programme offered by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The main goal of EPS@ISEP is to offer a project-based educational experience to develop teamwork, communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills in an international and multidisciplinary set up. The Sail Car team consisted of six Erasmus students, who participated in EPS@ISEP during the spring of 2019. The objective of the project was to design and develop a wind-powered, easy to drive land sailing vehicle. First, the team researched existing commercial solutions and considered the marketing, ethics and sustainability dimensions of the project. Next, based on these studies, specified the full set of requirements, designed the Sailo solution and procured the components and materials required to build a real size proof-of-concept prototype. Finally, the team assembled and tested successfully the prototype. At the end of the semester, the team considered EPS@ISEP a mind-opening opportunity.