Student turns passion for space into award-winning university project

A recent Southampton Solent University engineering graduate’s final major project exploring the next generation of intelligent control systems, has earned him an industry award as well as a first class honours degree.

Alec Parkin, 21, graduated from the University's BEng (Hons) Electronic Engineering degree apprenticeship programme in July, while working at Airbus. At Solent's Engineering Poster Day 2026 - an industry showcase for final-year engineering students - Alec received the Automate-BEST Innovation Award for his project, ‘Use of Inverted Pendulum Robots to Develop Self-Tuning Control Systems’.

Inspired by his work within Airbus and emerging research into control systems, Alec developed a series of inherently unstable robots to test advanced mathematical models and adaptive control techniques.

Using inverted pendulum robots as a test platform, the project investigated how self-tuning control systems can automatically adjust to changing conditions in real time. Unlike conventional controllers, which rely on fixed settings, self-tuning systems continuously identify changes within a system and optimise their performance accordingly.

The research has potential applications across a range of high-precision engineering environments, including satellite attitude control, autonomous systems and humanoid robotics, where maintaining stability in changing conditions is critical.

Alec’s project was inspired by working at Airbus, which gave me the opportunity to learn how communications spacecraft are controlled and the complex engineering challenges involved. “I found the idea fascinating and wanted to explore how similar principles could be applied through robotics,” he says.

"My project is essentially about robots that cannot stand up on their own and using maths to help stabalise them. It allowed me to combine my interest in space engineering with hands-on experimentation and software development."

After studying at a technical college in Portsmouth, he joined Airbus as a degree apprentice and combined his industry role with study at Solent University.

Reflecting on his time at Solent, Alec says: "What I've loved most is the independence. I've been able to spend the last year focusing on a project I'm passionate about, exploring ideas and developing solutions that genuinely interest me."

The project also won funded prizes from the Solent competition and the RS Components Student Fund.

Alec is enjoying the space-related work he’s doing at the moment and is excited to see where it takes him.

Solent University’s Engineering Poster Day brings together final-year students, employers and industry specialists to showcase innovative projects and celebrate student achievement. You can find out more about Solent’s career ready approach to engineering on our website.