THE MELTING POT APPROACH TO SENIOR DESIGN

Michael A. Latcha, Ph.D.Subramaniam Ganesan, Ph.D.

Edward Y.L. Gu, Ph.D.Richard E. Haskell, Ph.D.

Reasons for a change of practice

Duplication of effort, different expectations and outcomes between departments

Integrate knowledge and skills Multidisciplinary teamwork Accreditation requirements

SOLUTION: Schedule all senior engineering design courses together on same days, at same times, with three experienced faculty members

The “Melting Pot” Philosophy

The “Melting Pot” Approach All engineering disciplines in one room

Student Design Teams Combining all engineering disciplines to be successful

Choice of Design Project Non-industrial, multidisciplinary, no experience necessary

Never Answer a Question The Importance of Competition

Project

Design a kit for Sophomore Design Upcoming course Autonomous line-following vehicle that can

carry a 15-lb payload along a closed-circuit track up to 300-ft long

Additional functions must be discussed but not necessarily designed

Maximum cost: $150

Competition

Must function on non-straight portion of track with 15-lb payload

Performance measure: fastest adjusted time to traverse course

Can make up to 3 runs, with modifications between

Penalties: 5 second penalty for hitting obstacles 1 sec/ft penalty for not finishing course

Week 1 – Introduction

Uncomfortable silence, confusion, wide-eyed looks, disbelief

Describe project and competition to class, establish website as main communication tool

Student profiles to gather information for team assignments

Design teams assigned, work begins

Week 3 – Design proposals

Required before purchases can be made Level of detail range from minimal to

extreme Current designs have little resemblance to

proposed designs Team activity mainly divided between

disciplines with little interdisciplinary communication

Week 8 – Oral Progress Reports

20-minute PowerPoint presentations “tell the story”

Every team member speaks No group had a functioning vehicle All groups had all necessary components Much more interdisciplinary activity, CS/ME

and EE/CE

Week 12 – Current status

Only one group still has not seen their vehicle follow a line

All other groups are improving speed, accuracy and tracking - 3 weeks early

Most successful groups work and meet as a whole, everyone involved with all aspects

Least successful groups are still passing vehicles between discipline sub-groups

Vehicles

Future project ideas

Autonomous vehicles that: seek out and park into parallel spaces seek out and extinguish fires play sports (shoot baskets)

Teams of inter-communicating vehicles that cooperate to perform a function Play soccer, marching band

Anything with fire or explosives

Conclusions

After April 15, 2004 seehttp://personalwebs.oakland.edu/~latcha/