Robbie Napper

Senior Lecturer in Design and Deputy Director of the Mobility Design Lab Robbie.Napper@monash.edu

Biography

Robbie is an industrial designer, researcher and senior lecturer with the Department of Design at Monash University, and deputy director of the Mobility Design Lab. Since joining Monash University in 2007 he has developed expertise in the design and manufacture of public transport vehicles, especially examining themes of modularity, mass customisation, user experience and user-centred design in public transport. From 2011-2013 he led the design and development of Australia’s most widely adopted route bus, the VolgrenOptimus.

articles

Bus with zero emissions in motion on background nature

Wheels in motion: Battery-powered buses and the road to zero transport emissions

Unlike, for instance, lawnmowers, you don’t just “plug in” a bus to a regular outlet – the charging equipment is sophisticated, extensive, and expensive.

Sustainability

Men and women cycling along a busy road.

Forget your fixie, we're more likely to ride bikes if we can carry more on them

Australian bicycles are largely influenced by sport, not utility. We should embrace cargo bikes for their usefulness.

Design and architecture

Rethinking public transport post-pandemic

A multidisciplinary research team is examining how we can translate what we know about public health contagion to develop safer public transport infrastructure.

Politics and society

How to get more people to use public transport and reduce overcrowding

We know overcrowded public transport is a major deterrent to using it, but a Monash lab is working to change that.

Design and architecture