Assessing Interdisciplinary Engineering Capstone Project
- Conference
- Location
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Chicago, Illinois
- Publication Date
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June 18, 2006
- Start Date
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June 18, 2006
- End Date
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June 21, 2006
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Systems Engineering Constituent Committee
- Page Count
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11
- Page Numbers
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11.238.1 - 11.238.11
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--695
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/695
- Download Count
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379
Paper Authors
Matthew Sanders Kettering University
MATTHEW S. SANDERS, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Kettering University. Dr. Sanders earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1987. His current interest and consulting experience are in systems management and systems design.
Mark Thompson Kettering University
Mark Thompson earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University in 1980. He has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Kettering University for 17 years and holds the rank of Professor. Dr. Thompson teaches courses in the areas of electronic design and automotive electronic systems and has served as course coordinator for EE senior design project for several years.
Mohamed El-Sayed Kettering University
MOHAMED El-SAYED, Ph. D. is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University and has been teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level for over 25 years. He teaches Machine Design, Automotive Design, Design Optimization, Mechanics, and Nonlinear Finite Element analysis. He is a consultant for several engineering corporations and has over fifty research papers on multidisciplinary Design optimization.
Lucy King Kettering University
LUCY KING, Ph. D. has been a professor in Manufacturing Engineering for 13 years and teaches CIM, Robotics and evening distance learning graduate degree program courses. She had 12 years of prior teaching experience in CAD/CAE/CAM areas at Lawrence Technological University. She is an active member at ASME College and Pre-College committees. She is responsible for collaborative effort to incorporate MfgE courses into ME curriculum.
Michael Lindquist Kettering University
Michael Lindquist graduated from Kettering University with a Mechanical Engineering Bachelor's Degree. He is currently doing an
assistantship while completing his Masters in
Engineering Management. The work he is doing includes a lean, "lights out" manufacturing project.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Assessing Interdisciplinary Engineering Capstone Project
Abstract
In industry, engineers from different disciplines and levels of expertise work together on projects. To prepare students for industry, professors from Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME), and Mechanical Engineering (ME) departments at Kettering University have combined their capstone classes to work on a common project.
Students are divided into teams composed of students from each of the ECE, IME, and ME departments. Every team works on their version of a project known as RoboBug. The team is responsible for the design, development, and manufacturing of a working robot in the shape of a bug capable of performing specified tasks. Students are given requirements for functionality and limitations such as weight, cost, and timeline for various activities of their work.
At the end of the term, each team is required to submit a final report and give a final presentation. Their presentation is assessed by faculty and invited guests on knowledge gained, coordination, team participation, and leadership skills.
Weekly and final evaluations by faculty, invited guests, and students are statistically analyzed to measure the effectiveness of this interdisciplinary engineering capstone project. This paper will discuss the assessment process and the results of these evaluations. In addition, the comments and observations made by the participants, along with the difficulties and successes will be presented.
Introduction
In an expanded effort towards engineering integration, it is imperative to integrate courses at many levels of education1. To simulate an industrial setting and to prepare students for interdisciplinary careers, students from the various degree capstone classes are assigned to work together on a common project to develop a new product – RoboBug – for the Freshman Interdisciplinary Design and Manufacturing course, IME-100. IME-100 is an introductory course which exposes first year students to the activities and professional characteristics of each of the engineering disciplines offered at Kettering University. Via IME-100 freshmen are introduced to electromechanical principles through studying the mechanics and electronic control of these components. They discuss the nature of the product, the design principles and constraints used, the material selection, and the manufacturing processes. The IME-100 course includes IME laboratories where freshman students learn to perform basic manufacturing processes. These processes provide them the skills necessary to manufacture a RoboBug. The IME-100 course also has an ECE laboratory component where freshmen students build a circuit to be placed on a small robot. The robot is then used in the course to demonstrate system integration and simple programming in an effort to coordinate a walking motion.
Sanders, M., & Thompson, M., & El-Sayed, M., & King, L., & Lindquist, M. (2006, June), Assessing Interdisciplinary Engineering Capstone Project Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--695
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