Maya’s Smart Follow Me Suitcase brought to life through community and collaboration
A Year 4 pupil’s idea for a suitcase that can follow its user hands free has been brought to life by AVEVA’s ProtoTeam, demonstrating the impact of industry engagement, community support and young people’s creativity in engineering.
Maya’s Smart Follow Me Suitcase began as an imaginative response to a real-world problem: how to make travelling through busy spaces easier, more comfortable and more accessible. Her concept explored how a suitcase could move with its user, helping people who may be carrying multiple items, moving through crowded airports or needing extra support while travelling.
Maya’s idea was selected by AVEVA, who saw both the creativity and practical potential behind her design. What followed was a collaborative journey that connected pupil voice with engineering expertise, turning an annotated classroom sketch into a working prototype.
From the outset, the AVEVA ProtoTeam made sure Maya remained at the centre of the project. Rather than simply building the idea on her behalf, the team treated her as the young engineer behind the concept, listening to her preferences, involving her family and keeping the final prototype as close as possible to her original vision.
That commitment to engagement became especially clear when Maya and her family were invited to AVEVA’s Cambridge Science Park office ahead of the regional Awards and Exhibition. The visit created an opportunity for Maya to meet the engineers working on her idea, see the prototype in action and experience first-hand how engineering teams test, adapt and improve a design.
The day also brought together a wider community of colleagues, family members and volunteers. AVEVA welcomed Maya and her family with lunch, office demonstrations and a tour of the workplace, giving them a glimpse into the people, projects and skills that sit behind engineering innovation. A demonstration of a carrot piano sparked curiosity and conversation, while colleagues shared examples of their own work across the office.
For Maya, the highlight was seeing her Follow Me robot move through the office. The team demonstrated how the prototype detected obstacles, stopped and responded to its surroundings, helping Maya understand how her original idea had been developed into a functioning model. The demonstration quickly attracted attention from colleagues, turning the visit into a shared celebration of pupil creativity and engineering problem solving.
Maya also helped shape the final look and personality of the prototype. After sharing that she liked light blue and wanted the robot to have hands, she used craft materials to help bring the design to life. She named the robot Shellie, adding a personal touch that reflected her ownership of the project. Her brother Noah joined in the creative activity too, building a LEGO bridge and adding to the family atmosphere of the visit.
The finished prototype was unveiled on 18 June at the East England regional Awards and Exhibition, hosted at Anglia Ruskin University. The event brought together pupils, families, teachers, engineers and industry partners to celebrate young people’s ideas and the communities that help develop them.
Maya’s Smart Follow Me Suitcase shows how powerful it can be when industry engages directly with young people. By connecting classroom imagination with professional engineering skills, the project gave Maya a meaningful role in the development of her idea and offered engineers the chance to work on a creative, pupil-led challenge with real-world purpose.
Most importantly, the project demonstrates that engineering is not just about technology; it is about people, collaboration and community. Through AVEVA’s support, Maya’s idea became more than a prototype. It became a shared experience that inspired curiosity, built confidence and showed what can happen when young engineers are listened to, supported and invited into the process.
Each year, our university and industry partners form a Primary Engineer ProtoTeam and select an inspiring pupil entry from the ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ Leaders Award Competition, originally displayed at our public exhibitions in the summer term. Our latest ProtoTeam updates can be found here: ProtoTeams – Leaders Award