Off-roading is one of New Brunswick’s most-loved outdoor activities, and it’s also of the most dangerous.
A conventional engineer interested in reducing the number of off-roading accidents might pick one vehicle feature—say brakes or seatbelts—and try to make it safer.
But Dr. Kush Bubbar is not your typical engineer. As head of the System Level Model Development Engineering Lab (Sys-MoDEL) at UNB, he practices systems thinking, a method for analyzing situations that understands parts as interconnected pieces of a whole.
Dr. Bubbar and his students combine this integrated view of complex technology with advanced modeling techniques that involve both software and physical prototypes. The Sys-MoDEL lab looks like a high-tech toy store, with electronic models of electric vehicles and steering simulators competing for space with computer equipment.
This is serious play, however. By using systems thinking, Sys-MoDEL isn’t just redesigning electric off-road vehicles. It’s also enabling innovation in marine energy and nurturing New Brunswick’s next generation of inventors and change-makers.
De-risking innovation
Sys-MoDEL conducts research in response to industry needs, and Dr. Bubbar’s work on off-road vehicles is a collaboration with the Fredericton company Potential Motors. The project illustrates why systems thinking is such a transformative approach.
Currently, the control systems in electric off-road vehicles are what Dr. Bubbar calls “reactive”—they adjust to changes in terrain by collecting and interpreting data in real time. Sys-MoDEL is now leaving this passive approach in the dust. It’s designing a system that will anticipate potholes and rocks before the vehicle hits them.
On a larger scale, SysMoDEL’s methodology also helps other innovators predict how emerging technologies will function once they move from the drawing board to the real world. This is especially promising for marine renewable energy (offshore wind and tidal power), which has tremendous potential but is hampered by the high costs of validating new equipment.
Through RNB funding, Dr. Bubbar and his team have created an Ocean Engineering Toolbox (OET). This open source software allows engineers to simulate placing test equipment in the ocean without needing to pay the price of building, transporting, and installing it. OET could be the key that unlocks a lucrative new segment for New Brunswick’s growing energy sector.
Training change-makers
Potential Motors started as a student project supervised by Dr. Bubbar, and now the company is engaging current UNB students to keep pushing their innovative technology ahead.
“It’s all about empowerment, right?” says Dr. Bubbar. SysMoDEL empowers the companies it collaborates with, and it empowers students by giving them opportunities for hands-on learning with industry partners.
A dedicated mentor, Dr. Bubbar shows his systems thinking roots in the way he thinks about his work as a teacher as well as a researcher. Developing student skills, he says, will enable NB to develop a next-gen economy:
“Presenting students with a space, an environment where they can learn and hone their skills so they can be change-makers is the reason I do this job.”
