And the name is... Marcel Hug!
This Tuesday marked one of the biggest milestones of our project year: the Swissloop Sponsoring Rollout.
We had the great honour of welcoming Marcel Hug @swisssilverbullet – Swiss Paralympic athlete and multiple medalist – as the namesake of our pod.
We proudly unveiled our pod, the result of countless days and nights of hard work, and performed a series of flawless demonstration runs to showcase its capabilities.
The evening was rounded off with tacos and dessert. All homemade by the team!
A heartfelt thank-you to all our sponsors, friends, and families. Your support made this possible!
#swissloop #eth #mavt #itet #hyperloop #ethhangar #ipz #innovation #engineering #engineeringstudents #shapingthefuture
You've met all our focus students now. They are the core team working full time on bringing the 2026 Pod to life. But a project of this scale would not be possible without the help of our many motivated freelancers!
We are very thankful that so many of them dedicate their free time to support us on our engineering journey. They all are doing great work, and we hope to have them on board for the remaining project year and possibly even the years to come.
We also have to thank our experienced former focus students, working as project leads, who give us support and advice on the many things we are still learning along the way to a finished prototype.
Hi, I'm Urs. I am a mechanical engineering student and I am responsible for the brakes and the pressure system of this year's Swissloop pod. The pressure system stores air in a pressure tank, which is used to maintain the pressure in the cabin in a vacuum environment and open the brakes. The brakes are opened with pneumatic cylinders and closed with springs, which ensures fail-safety.
I really enjoy working on this subsystem, since I was able to create high-performance, topology-optimized parts. I used specific software to "carve away" unnecessary material, creating a light but strong part. Seeing these organic-looking designs come to life through metal 3D printing has been the highlight of my work this year.
Hi, my name is James Schatzmann. I’m a mechanical engineering student and responsible for the pressure cabin and electrical integration of this season’s Swissloop pod. This year’s pod features an airplane-style canopy opening mechanism, built using 3D-printed aluminium parts and gas pressure springs. The idea is to keep it lightweight while still making sure it’s reliable and easy to use. In my role as integration engineer, I coordinate how all the mechanical and electrical subsystems come together into one cohesive system. I mainly focus on weight distribution, packaging, and making sure everything fits together cleanly.
I was drawn to this role because I enjoy working with composite materials and have a strong interest in FEM analysis and additive manufacturing. I also like the level of detail and precision involved. The combination of structural design with system-level thinking is what makes this task interesting for me.
Hey, my name is Pascale. I am a mechanical engineering student and responsible for the battery system of this year’s pod. The primary purpose of this system is to serve as the energy source for the entire vehicle, supplying power to everything from the low-voltage control PCBs to the high-power propulsion and levitation coils. To ensure safe and reliable operation, the system is governed by a Battery Management System that continuously monitors and regulates the individual packs of cells.
My main focus this year was the design and development of the new High Voltage battery packs. I was drawn to this subsystem because a university lecture on energy storage sparked my interest in battery technology. I’ve always enjoyed working with circuits, and this work package gave me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge about batteries and build a real-life, high-power system.
Hello, I’m Loïc, studying mechanical engineering and working on the design of the lower pod structures & the levitation hardware.
This year’s lower pod structures are made out of CNC milled aluminum and serve as a mounting for various other subsystems. The main challenge is to achieve high structural stiffness while minimizing weight.
I am also responsible for the hardware of the electromagnetic levitation & guidance system, including the development and testing of the magnets.
The reason why I chose this subsystem is because I particularly enjoy working with CAD & FEA software and designing my own parts from scratch. I especially found it highly engaging and educational to simulate the electromagnets using a Multiphysics simulation tool, which allowed me to better understand and analyse their performance.
Hi I'm Matteo. I am a mechanical engineering student and this year I'm working on the propulsion and booster subsystems.
Our propulsion system uses two electromagnetic motors, one is in the first section of the track, and one is on the pod itself. By optimizing the design of these systems we can accelerate the pod and reach our destination as quickly as possible.
I am interested in my subsystem because I like making things go fast and because I wanted to learn more about electronics, magnets and mechanical systems in general.
Hi, I'm Timon. I’m a mechanical engineering student currently working on the pressure cabin of this year’s Swissloop pod. The cabin is made up of multiple carbon fibre shell segments, supported by an aluminium structure. It’s designed to be airtight and to safely house a passenger, along with electronics and batteries, protecting them from the vacuum inside the Hyperloop tube.
I took on this challenge because I’m intrigued about carbon fibre manufacturing and wanted to gain hands-on experience on a real engineering project, while also deepening my understanding of composite design, theory, and simulation.
Hi, im Bond. I am studying mechanical engineering, and currently working on the Vehicle Control Unit for the 2026 Swissloop pod.
The Vehicle Control Unit serves as the central hub for communication and control of the system. You could call it the brain of the system. It reads the sensor data and forwards it to the respective processing points, like the laser sensors for levitation, it receives commands from the operator, and gives commands to the other systems like propulsion, the power system or levitation.
I was interested in this Subsystem because I wanted to learn more about the communication between electronic components, how electric machines are controlled and how computational components such as microcontrollers work.
Hi, I’m Charlie. I am a mechanical engineering student and working on levitation sense & control for this year’s Swissloop pod. Our levitation system uses permanent and electromagnets to pull upwards towards a steel track, by adjusting the strength of the electromagnets with feedback from laser sensors, we can regulate around a set height and keep the pod levitating. I was drawn to this subsystem, because I wanted to learn about control theory on a real project beyond the usual university courses, and I really enjoy the mix of dynamics, controller design and testing that comes with it.
Hi, I’m Jérôme. I am a mechanical engineering student at ETH and am responsible of the power electronics at Swissloop.
My objective is to take the direct current supplied by the battery and transform it into custom current waveforms to drive the propulsion and levitation systems of this years pod.
Electronics are a passion of mine and this is the reason why i chose the Power Electronics subsystem. I especially enjoy designing and building circuits and seeing how schematics come to life and produce a measurable result.
