From left to right: Ms. Alma, Nahid, Maricone, Regina, Ilyas, Shareef, Najla, Wael

Muhammad Ilyas designed a piece of playground equipment that reuses energy, which will be exhibited at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi from January 17 to January 20.

He received AED 10,000 to build a working model of his project to display at the summit. He has only two months to complete the piece in between juggling night classes in interior design and a full time job at an engineering consultancy.

There were 8 students from 9 universities who participated and displayed their equipment designs. "Every designer dreams of doing some famous designs," Ilyas said. " I am always trying to do things differently."

The project was named the Flying Jack, features a 7.5m pole with two baskets designed to carry one person each. The baskets rise up the pole when each rider team mate jumps on the platform on the ground. The faster they jump, the quicker the basket goes up, and the first rider to ring a bell at the top wins. The bell will prompt an LED-lit sign to flash messages such as "Don't smoke" or "Don't waste water". "From the beginning, everyone was making fun of him: people flying? But he was stubborn and so excited about it, " Ilyas's teacher Ms. Alma said. "He has so many great ideas."

We at Preston University-Ajman congratulate our student and wish him good luck for his new project!

Brochure designed by Ilyas and his team