July 2026

#FormulaForSuccess. “I Needed More Than Theory - I Wanted the Chance to Build, Test, and Improve”

Andrey Danovsky was named Best Student of Moscow Polytechnic University for a reason. Throughout his studies, he worked on real engineering projects and steadily developed his practical skills. Just a month ago, he successfully defended his Bachelor’s thesis in Advanced Transportation Systems and has already started working in his field.

— Why did you choose this programme and Moscow Polytechnic University?

— I’ve loved cars since childhood, and in the fourth grade I became interested in robotics. By the age of 15, I was already teaching robotics at a private school. I chose Moscow Polytechnic University because of the EMP (Electric Motorcycle Polytech) Moscow team and because I wanted to apply my robotics ideas to the automotive industry. I wasn’t looking for theory alone—I wanted the opportunity to build, test, improve, and build again.

— How did you become involved in engineering projects? What did you work on during your studies?

— Fr om my first year, my goal was to join the EMP Moscow team led by Semyon Zemtsev. He showed me that any idea can become reality if you’re willing to put in enough effort. I worked on electric motorcycles and constantly experimented with new ideas—from manufacturing carbon-fiber components to developing a gear-shifting system for an electric ATV.

At first, I designed the wiring system and the safe-start system for the MIG-R2 electric motorcycle. Later, I worked on the Guepard electric ATV for Stels, which at the time was the most powerful electric ATV in Russia. My responsibilities included the instrument panel, the automatic transmission, and the pre-charge control board.

After that, together with my friends Mikhail Assylov and Andrey Rulev, we launched our own project, Q-RIDER. I assembled the team, and we started developing an autonomous version of the vehicle. The project was later completed by our teammates under the leadership of Kirill Savitsky and Egor Zemtsev.

Today, I work at Atom as an engineer and project coordinator, wh ere I participate in crash testing and the certification of the ERA-GLONASS emergency response system.

— What is your brightest memory from student life?

— It’s impossible to fit five years of adventures into a single sentence. Everything I experienced together with my friends remains my most memorable part of university life.

— What are you most grateful to the University for? What skills did you gain?

— I’m grateful for having the freedom to make mistakes. At Moscow Polytechnic University, you can experiment, break things, redesign them, and keep improving without being afraid to fail. If you’re never breaking anything, you’re probably not creating anything either. I’m also thankful for the creative freedom and the opportunity to gain real hands-on experience while learning.

— How would you describe Moscow Polytechnic University in three words?

— Electric Motorcycle Polytech.