Engineers Australia student member Rajtilak Kapoor is supporting a multi-medallist wheelchair racing athlete in her goals for gold at Paris 2024.
As a master’s in electronic and sport engineering student at Griffith University, Raj has been collaborating with a team of engineers at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) to design and deliver state-of-the-art technology for Paralympic athletes.
Raj began his career in mechanical engineering working in the mining sector but realised he needed something more. He decided to investigate the science of sport and how engineering principles can be applied to service athletes. That was when he began his postgraduate studies and subsequently, was given the opportunity to work with the AIS.
With the team at AIS, Raj has been working on highly customised, 3D-printed racing gloves, designed to enhance an athlete's pushing technique for more power and efficiency.
“The hands are an abrasive surface and when you’re pushing with such power, you’re prone to slipping and inhibiting pain,” Raj says.
The racing gloves mould directly to the athlete's handshape, allowing them to push past the pain as the glove is taking the direct force out of it.
The gloves are first putty sculpted to the athlete’s hand in motion, a 3D scan is done and transferred across to CAD software for smoothing, refinement and material selection before going to the 3D printer.
Raj says “every wheelchair racer coming through the AIS and competing at this level will have their own sort of custom version of gloves; we’ve now built up a library of equipment for all the athletes.”
The team will need to wait until after this year’s Olympic Games to truly evaluate the effectiveness of their 3D printed gloves.
Raj says interacting with athletes has been a major highlight of this career. “Being able to see the passion and dedication they possess, really pushes you to work just as hard in your own role.”
“While still new to the workplace, I have been able to see the impact my team's work has on the performance of athletes. Being able to contribute to their athletic achievements is a great driving force.”
And to other engineers thinking about a career in sport, Raj says “acquaint yourselves with 3D design and 3D printing.”