Head of Mechanical & Civil Engineering

Swissloop Tunneling

Presentation

Philippe Kientsch – Head of Mechanical & Civil Engineering, Swissloop Tunneling

ELON MUSK’s NOT-A-BORING COMPETITION WINNER 2024! Swissloop Tunneling – A student project reaching new milestones in TBM innovation

Founded in 2020, Swissloop Tunneling is a student association initiated at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. Their aim is to significantly contribute to faster, continuous, and resource efficient tunnelling in a bid to accelerate the pace of underground construction. On their prototypical micro TBM “Groundhog Beta”, – the 2024 upgrade to its previous incantation “Groundhog Alpha”, they are ambitiously conducting R&D on radical new approaches with a high potential to facilitate infrastructure projects of the future. The team has just won the overall Not-a-Boring Competition, 2024, organized by non-other than Elon Musk! This presentation highlights the milestones during the team’s journey, how their technology has progressed and what industrial impact Swissloop Tunneling is looking forward to making.