[Classroom conversations]
[Bierer] This sophomore level engineering class includes all the disciplines:
mechanical and electrical to civil and environmental engineering students.
They're required to design a game using robots, and then build it.
The type of robot that they build was completely up to them.
And they had to go through a step by step engineering design process
to determine what is the best design. So there's a lot of mechanical complexity
here with learning gearing, driving of robots, they have to program the robots,
so the robots are remote controlled. So today's kind of like their big final exam.
[Bierer] Students follow the short list of game requirements.
This group created a kind of robotic basketball game,
designing a ball launching device so players could shoot balls through the air,
trying to get them into bowls.
This project has been quite fun. Because it's a game, it allows us to have fun
doing it, and we've had some real complicated issues with Legos,
how to throw a ball with Legos was very difficult, and that was really
our main... our biggest issue with this project.
[Bierer] Josh Chiriboga says the other challenge was working with a large group,
where each person had an abundance of ideas.
[Josh] This has been a ten person group. Other groups have been 5 people at the most,
and so this is really team coordination here, who's doing what, to get things done,
and that's really been where it's been where it's... it's been the biggest challenge is how to organize
a team of ten people to work on one single project has been quite the task.
[Bierer] And that task provided some of the more enduring lessons,
lessons these students will need as they continue their education,
and begin their careers.
One of the primary learning objectives for this class is to develop
the team skills and the management skills, as well as to understand
the creative design process, because that's sort of is what drives the...
When you’re an engineer working in the field, is your ability to come up with ideas
to solve problems. So it's kind of a problem solving class,
but it's in a much broader scope.
[Bierer] There were six teams in this engineering class, and this final project
demonstration wrapped up a semester of designing, planning and building,
an assignment most would agree, sounds like a fun way to learn.