Experience of Designing and Manufacturing a BattleBot to Compete

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Dong ◽  
Janak Dave
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Weight Class ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Business World ◽  
Design Project ◽  
National Competition ◽  
University Of Cincinnati ◽  
Complex Project ◽  
The University ◽  
Capstone Design

Students working toward a baccalaureate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are required to complete a “Design, Manufacturing, and Test” senior capstone design project. One of these capstone design projects was to design and manufacture a battle robot to participate in the BotsIQ national competition. This robot was built to meet the BotsIQ 120 lb weight class specifications. A BattleBot is a robot which possesses fighting capabilities and competes against other BattleBots with the intent to disable them. The weapon is the main component of the BattleBots. BattleBots compete one on one and the winner is determined by the amount of damaged inflicted to the other using the weapon. In the 2007–2008 academic year, a team of four Mechanical Engineering Technology students at the University of Cincinnati built a BattleBot as their senior capstone design project. As with all capstone projects, expertise and knowledge acquired from their coursework and co-op were utilized. This project gave them an opportunity to showcase their abilities as well as develop additional skills needed to be successful in a team oriented business world. This team also enjoyed the personal satisfaction of working on a technically complex project from concept-to-design, manufacture, test, and compete against other university participants in the competition. This paper will describe students’ experiences in designing, manufacturing, and competing their robot in the national competition and team experience of the participants.

An Industry-University Collaboration Experience on a Senior Project

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janak Dave ◽  
Janet Dong
Keyword(s):  
Scaled Model ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Business World ◽  
Senior Project ◽  
Design Build ◽  
University Of Cincinnati ◽  
Commercial Applications ◽  
Complex Project ◽  
The University ◽  
Capstone Design

Students working toward a baccalaureate degree in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are required to complete a “Design, Build, and Test” senior capstone design project. Some of these capstone design projects are done in collaboration with industries to meet their needs. One of the projects during 2009–2010 academic year is to meet the needs of the packaging industry. The student team will design and recommend a specialized End of Arm Tool for palletizing applications. They will build a scaled model and the industrial sponsor may build the full product at the later date. A team of three students from Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati are working on this project, which gives them an opportunity to showcase the knowledge and skills learned in their coursework and during the co-op (cooperative) experience, as well as to develop the additional skills needed to be successful in a team oriented business world. This team is working on a technically complex project from concept-to-design, build, test, and then to have the possibility of their product being used in commercial applications. This paper will give a description of the MET senior capstone design course sequence at University of Cincinnati and the list of pre-requisites for the capstone design sequence. It will also describe the design of 2009–2010 End of Arm Tool (EOAT) project and the plans for building a scaled model. Included too, is a description of how Industry-University Collaboration can improve student learning.

Design-Build-Test: The Capstone Design Project

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Dong ◽  
J. Dave
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Design Project ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Sports Events ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Design Build ◽  
National Competition ◽  
University Of Cincinnati ◽  
Capstone Design

Students working toward baccalaureate degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) at University of Cincinnati (UC) are required to complete a “Design, Build, and Test” senior capstone design project. Two of these capstone design projects during the 2005–2006 academic year were to design and build vehicles. One is a Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV), which was geared to meet the needs of developing countries for an affordable transportation. The national competition was held in Indianapolis, IN. The other one is an Autocross racing vehicle, which was built to meet the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Autocross specifications, and raced in the regional/local events. The Institute for Affordable Transportation (IAT) hosts a competition of designing and building BUV each year in Indianapolis, IN. IAT is a not-for-profit organization devoted to improving the living standards and enable economic growth in the developing world by creating a simple vehicle that can be assembled almost anywhere, by almost anyone. The competition tests and judges all of the entries to identify best design and suitable vehicles for developing countries. IAT has donated several vehicles to needy countries in South America and Africa. The SCCA is a 60,000-member not-for-profit organization featuring the most active membership participation in motorsports today. The foundation of the SCCA is its Club Racing program with over 2,000 amateur and professional motor sports events each year. One team of MET students built a BUV, and another team of students built an Autocross racing car as their senior projects. From concept to a final working vehicle with meeting the IAT’s or SCCA’s specifications, there are many challenges. The expertise and knowledge acquired from student’s coursework and co-op were utilized. This paper will give the short description of the senior capstone design course sequence at University of Cincinnati: the list of pre-requisites of its sequence, and partially describes 2005–2006 BUV and Autocross projects and the team experiences of the projects from start to finish.

Design-Build-Test Senior Design Project

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Boronkay ◽  
Janak Dave
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Bachelor Of Science ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Technology Students ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design Build ◽  
Course Sequence ◽  
Capstone Projects ◽  
The University

Abstract Every student in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department must complete a Senior Capstone Design Project course sequence as a requirement for the partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology degree. Mechanical Engineering Technology students at the University of Cincinnati must design, build, and test their product for the satisfactory completion of the Senior Design Project course sequence. At many institutions the capstone projects do not include the build and test components. This paper gives a short description of the Senior Design course sequence, the list of pre-requisite design courses, the design process used by the students to complete their projects. It addresses issues, such as, team versus individual projects, industrial versus personal projects, etc. It also describes typical projects, two of which are being used in industry with minor modifications.

scholarly journals FROM MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CAPSTONE DESIGN TO DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Dumond ◽  
Eric Lanteigne
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
Engineering Theory ◽  
Teaching Design ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Capstone Design

Traditionally, mechanical engineering capstone courses focused on teaching students the application of fundamental engineering theory to complex mechanical designs. Recently, there has been a transition towards experiential learning initiatives, such as prototyping, in engineering design. This paper looks at the relationship between the mechanical engineering design capstone course and a course in product design and development, which provides students with the opportunity to build prototypes of their designs, at the University of Ottawa. The importance of the traditional capstone course is considered and the implications of implementing these designs are examined. Many capstone design projects would require extensive work so that they could be implemented. A large hurdle appears to exist between analytical design and design implementation, and the term time constraints limit the complexity of designs intended for prototyping. In fact, students require many design iterations before they can build full-scale functional prototypes of their design. Therefore, we have observed that simple products work best for teaching design implementation.

Experiential Learning for Engineering Technology Students in 21st Century

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Dong ◽  
Janak Dave
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Applied Science ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Concrete Experience ◽  
Global Study ◽  
University Of Cincinnati ◽  
College Of Engineering ◽  
The University

Experiential Learning (EL) is a philosophy in which educators purposefully engage learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to maximize learning, increase knowledge, and develop skills. Based on the learning cycle proposed by Lewin and the philosophy of Dewey, in that each experience builds upon previous experiences and influences the way future experiences will affect the learner, Kolb[1] developed the experiential learning model to describe the learning process. The four stages of the model are: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization and Active Experimentation. This model shows how theory, concrete experience, reflection and active experimentation can be brought together to produce richer learning than any of these elements can on its own. The College of Engineering and Applied Science did not implement the Kolb model fully due to insufficient resources. Therefore, only the first two of the four stages were used. Many avenues of concrete experiential learning exist for the students in the engineering technology programs at the University of Cincinnati, such as co-op, service learning, global study programs, field projects, academic research, etc. This paper gives a description of the experiential learning of students at the University of Cincinnati in the areas of global study, honors program and undergraduate research. Two faculty members in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the College of Engineering and Applied Science were involved in these experiences. Their experiences, along with student reflections, are discussed in the paper.

Mechatronics as a Capstone Design Course

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Murray ◽  
Joseph L. Garbini
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
University Of Washington ◽  
High Regard ◽  
The University ◽  
Capstone Design Courses ◽  
Capstone Design

Abstract Capstone design courses in engineering, which provide students the opportunity to tackle open-ended, real-world projects, are generally held in high regard as learning experiences. A relatively new and increasingly important component of engineering is the area of mechatronics. In this paper, we review the goals of capstone design courses and examine how well suited mechatronics projects are for use as projects in capstone design courses. Our experiences in using mechatronics projects in the senior-level capstone design course in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington are presented. From these experiences, we demonstrate that mechatronics projects are particulary well suited for use in capstone design.

scholarly journals CAPSTONE DESIGN IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph O. Buchal
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The University ◽  
Centres Of Excellence ◽  
Capstone Design

All engineering programs in Canada must culminate in a significant design experience. This paper describes the capstone design course in the Mechanical Engineering Program at the University of Western Ontario. Self-selected student teams choose from several types of projects: faculty-defined projects, student-defined entrepreneurial projects, student design competitions, and industry-sponsored projects. These choices accommodate a wide range of interests and career goals. The primary sources of project funding are industry sponsorship fees and matching funding through the Ontario Centres of Excellence Connections Program. The majority of project expenses are for parts, materials, prototype construction and testing.

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