Growing up in India, Suyog Sharnagat developed a passion for knowing how things work.
That desire spread into the automotive domain. Understanding how an engine works and learning more about autonomy-enabled systems and their functions became important.
That led him to a degree in mechanical engineering and, eventually, into the renowned automotive engineering program at Clemson (S.C.) University, which features an enormously popular hands-on program called Deep Orange.
Clemson’s Deep Orange program, sponsored by the Virtual Prototyping of Autonomy-Enabled Ground Systems Research Center and developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army and other strategic partners, develops next-generation, semi-autonomous vehicles designed to transform emergency response in extreme conditions. It merges advanced technology with mission-critical functionality to enhance the speed, safety and efficiency of rescue operations.
And it is the whole reason Sharnagat eschewed furthering his education in India and made the trek to South Carolina.
“While applying for my master’s degree, I was going through colleges and a few of my friends were already here at Clemson,” said Sharnagat, who has been in the program for some 18 months. “They were like, ‘You should look into this program. This is all that we have worked even in our bachelor’s, and you can try.
“I was going through it learning about the history and everything and I was like, ‘Yeah, that looks interesting. It could be great to get into this.”
Dr. Robert Prucka, Clemson’s Alan Kulwicki Professor of Automotive Engineering who joined the Automotive Engineering faculty in August 2008, said the Deep Orange program is an “educational framework we use in the automotive engineering department to teach master’s students how to design and build a vehicle.
“We start from customer needs and go all the way through building the prototype and making sure it meets those customer needs,” said Prucka, who earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 2008.
Prucka’s research and teaching interests include the design, control, calibration, performance and emissions of advanced powertrain systems.
The current model, Deep Orange 16, is designed to be a rescue vehicle for situations like those seen in South Carolina with Hurricane Helene, or in the aftermath of an earthquake.
The vehicle can handle offroad situations in rough terrain at very high speed, Prucka explained.
“It’s also optionally piloted so you can rescue someone, put them in a stretcher in the back of the vehicle and the vehicle can drive itself to a hospital, then return to the scene to help rescue other people at the same time,” he said.
One of the things Deep Orange 16 is doing is finding the challenges from its predecessor, Deep Orange 15, and improving on them.
Prucka said Deep Orange is “a unique program,” happening as it does in the southeastern U.S. – “It’s a great hotbed for the automotive world,” he said – and performs as a way to show innovations throughout the southeast and bring them to the rest of the auto industry around the world.
Deep Orange 16 showcases the innovation, technical expertise and dedication of the 17-member team of graduate students.
For instance, Deep Orange 15 only had one litter in the back, meaning there wasn’t room for more than a single rescue. According to Rohit Godse, Deep Orange 16 Project Leader and a graduate student in Clemson’s Department of Automotive Engineering, that didn’t leave much of an impression.
“People weren’t really impressed with it because it weighs 3,000 pounds and could only carry one person,” Godse said. “We wanted to upsize on the occupancy of the vehicle and increase the space in back while keeping everything else intact.
“Deep Orange pushes us to think like real-world engineers,” he said. “We are not just learning theory, but solving complex, high-stakes problems that prepare us to lead in the industry from day one.”
From initial concept to fully functional prototype, the team collaborated with the VIPR-GS Research Center, government agencies and industry partners to solve practical challenges, gaining hands-on experience that prepares them to enter the workforce as industry-ready engineers.
“The Deep Orange program demonstrates what’s possible when academia, government, and industry come together to solve real-world problems,” Prucka said. “Our students are not only driving innovation, they’re helping to save lives by improving how we respond to emergencies in the most challenging environments.”
That environment, he said, makes a student a much better engineer than normal because they had to actually demonstrate that it works.
“You realize all the theory you learned is usually correct but not always perfect, and so you do have to improvise from time to time,” Prucka said. “That’s a really important piece of this.”
Prucka should know. His research and teaching interests have included the design, control, calibration, performance and emissions of advanced powertrain systems. He is currently researching the use of artificial intelligence and/or optimal control strategies for the design and operation of electrified powertrains used in autonomous off-road vehicles.
He says Deep Orange acts like a small original equipment manufacturer, where the program designs products that customers need.
“What we try to do … is immerse (students) in the world of being at an automotive company where they have to do the entire process from understanding the customer, designing the requirements for the vehicle, ultimately building the vehicle and testing it and then unveiling it at the end,” he explained. “We ultimately put them in a position where they’ve seen the entire build process of a vehicle while they’re here at Clemson and it shortens the time while they’re at industry that it takes them to get up to speed and really learn the engineering processes, they need to be successful throughout their careers.”
The pursuit of that career in the automotive industry is what brought Sharnagat to Clemson. His main interest is in how vehicles behave, the dynamics of the vehicle.
He sees for himself a future in testing vehicles and finding a role in that area. And, in a perfect world, he knows at which auto company he’d like to land.
“So probably testing their cars, having test runs on them, getting all the data and then giving a team a few parameters that ‘this looks different’ or ‘this might be changed,’” he said. “I would prefer BMW, but I’d be fine with any motor company.”
Godse believes the experience is getting him ready for a career in the auto industry, as well.
“Deep Orange has prepared me for the industry by helping me gain exposure to real-life problems by helping me solve problems on a real-life system which they have in the industry,” he said.
The percentage of students who go on to find careers in the auto industry, officials said, hovers in the high 90s. That alone makes it a unique program.
“There’s nothing else like it in the world,” Prucka added. “It’s very hands-on with the students. It’s one of the last places you can go anywhere in the world and do hardcore engineering and have to build it and ultimately demonstrate that it works.
“We really have no other competition in the world because it’s so difficult.”
