Jan Heinen successfully defended "Optimal Skateboard Geometry for Maximizing Ollie Height". He developed a skateboard and skateboarder model capable of performing an ollie. He used trajectory optimization to maximize the height of the skateboard ollie under physiological and dynamic constraints. Then he used his solver to optimize the skateboard's geometry to increase the height of the ollie. He found a variety of board designs that could be ollied higher than a typical board design with the best gaining 10 cm in height. The video below shows animations of the results:

Jan was co-supervised by Raymund ten Broek (Urban Sports Performance Center), Eline van der Kruk (TU Delft), and Jason K. Moore (TU Delft). Sam Brockie (TU Delft) also provided mentorship. Everyone at the bicycle lab is very proud of Jan and wishes him the best in his next adventures.