Meaningful Design Experience Research Articles

IDC Robocon: A Transnational Teaming Competition for Project-Based Design Education in Undergraduate Robotics

This paper presents a robot design competition called ‘IDC Robocon’ as an effective tool for engineering education. The International Design Contest (IDC) Robocon competition has several benefits in creating a meaningful design experience for undergraduate engineering students and includes an international flavour as participants of the competition hail from all around the world. The problem posed to the contestants is to design, build and test mobile robots that are capable of accomplishing a task. A primary goal of the competition is to provide undergraduates with a meaningful design experience with an emphasis on mechanical design, electronic circuits and programming. It is hoped that by placing the emphasis on the design, the course will encourage more undergraduates to go into the field of engineering design. This paper presents the latest 2015 IDC Robocon (the 26th edition) in detail and discusses course of events and results in terms of the educational experience. In this competition, a simulated space problem of cleaning the debris from orbit is proposed for the latest IDC Robocon competition. Teams, comprising of students from multiple countries work together to develop robotic systems to compete with each other in collecting the foam balls and delivering them to the rotating the holder.

A Junior Level Course in Electrical Engineering Design

The Engi 5800 Electrical Engineering Design course was introduced in 2008 as part of the electrical engineering curriculum of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). This compulsory course is offered in term 5 and typical enrolment is about 25 to 30 students. The nature of this course is fundamentally different from other lecture-based courses taught at the Faculty of Engineering. In this course, students work in groups on two design projects at a time: a guided design project, and a student-led design project. The course is constructed so as to provide a meaningful design experience and encourage confidence building in students. This paper describes course details, organisation, design methodology, types of projects and course outcome.

Electrical Engineering Design Course at Memorial University of Newfoundland

The Engi. 5800 Electrical Engineering Design course was introduced in 2008 to the electrical engineering curriculum of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). This compulsory course is offered in term 5 and typical enrolment is about 25 to 30 students. The nature of this course is fundamentally different from other lecture-based courses taught at the Faculty of Engineering. In this course, students work in groups on two design projects at a time. One design project i.e. emergency light design is a guided design project while the other is a student led design project. Design projects require students to follow a hierarchy of design process which includes: the general product definition, specifications and requirements, functional block diagrams, definition of specification of functional blocks for circuit level synthesis and implementation, system integration, simulation or modeling, testing and verification. All projects are a significant technical challenge and require students to apply their knowledge of electrical engineering learned through courses in the electrical engineering program. The course is designed to provide a meaningful design experience and encourage confidence building in students. This paper describes course details, organization, design methodology, types of projects and course outcome.

Using Community-Based Projects in Civil Engineering Capstone Courses

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology has been and still is encouraging different ways of integrating design content of individual courses for students to get a meaningful design experience. In response to this emphasis on design integration, a capstone course was instituted 10 years ago in the Civil Engineering and Construction Department of North Dakota State University. This course has successfully evolved over the years. Initially, artificial projects were constructed for the course. Recently, real-life projects for the course are carefully selected from the community. Faculty members expend considerable time in seeking suitable community-based projects for the course. In this setting, students have plenty of opportunity to interact with clients and present their results to the community. The use of community-based projects in the capstone course is discussed in this paper. Overall, students and faculty are satisfied with the experience.

An autonomous race car design competition

This paper describes an innovative collaboration between industry and academia in creating a meaningful design experience for undergraduate electrical engineering students. The design project involves designing, building and testing an autonomous model racecar. The course culminates in a competition. A primary goal of the competition is to provide undergraduates with a meaningful design experience with an emphasis on electronic circuits. This contest has a different flavor from the well-established IEEE Micromouse competition in the sense that it places the emphasis on the design and construction of an electronic sensing and control system without the microprogramming necessary to solve a maze (although a microprocessor can certainly be used). It is hoped that by placing the emphasis on the circuitry, the course will encourage more undergraduates to go into the field of electronic circuit design. The learning experience offered by the competition is shaped by, among other things, the format and rules of the competition, the students preparation in terms of circuit and control system theory and practice, and by the format of the design project course. This paper describes the competition in detail and discuss factors affecting the educational experience.

A capstone design course [electrical engineering

A capstone electrical engineering design course has been developed at the University of San Diego with the goal of providing students with the opportunity to: study design alternatives and select a design responsive to a request for proposal; sell the design concept to a panel of independent evaluators with a written proposal and oral presentations; obtain experience in design within a cooperating group; and completely fabricate and document a working electronic system. While innovation is not overtly discouraged, emphasis is placed upon satisfactory completion of a working product with the time constraints of a two semester course which spans one summer. The course is intended not only to provide a meaningful design experience but also to accomplish a confidence-building transition to the role of practicing engineer.