Engineers present designs for real world use at science fair

Imagine a machine that makes custom chocolates or one that simulates the movements of a fully functional elbow.

These are just two of the projects that senior industrial engineering students at the University created and presented Friday at the 13th annual “Design of Engineering Systems” fair in the Busch Campus Center Cove.

Kwabena Agyemang, a School of Engineering senior, said her group’s project, created as an assignment for her “Design 2” class, is a culmination of four years of learning applied to a real-world scenario.

“This [‘Design 2’ class] was a challenge, it was a struggle mentally and wore you down,” she said. “But it was worth it in the end. If we could get through this, we could get through anything in life.”

Agyemang and his group members created a fully automated chocolate-making machine. Clients can go on a website, place an order and specify what shape and filling they would like. The machine then creates the order and sends out a text message or email to the client to alert them their order is ready for pickup.

Thomas Barlow, a School of Engineering senior, worked with a group on a device that simulates the natural movement of an elbow. This machine could help doctors diagnose elbow injuries and understand muscle forces. Sensors are attached to a mechanical arm, and as it moves, the machine analyzes data according to its movements.

“We will provide a list of injuries with the machine to help with the diagnosis,” he said.

Within “Design 2,” students apply their accumulated skills to create their machine, said Joseph Sikorski, a School of Engineering senior.

“The class, ‘Design 2,’ is a big part of the engineering program,” he said. “It is everything we have learned in all four years, applied here.”

Barlow said the class not only taught the students how to practically apply four years of work, but also how to present and answer questions from people who know nothing about their projects.

“We gave presentations once a week in class with the professors helping us prepare. We all saw significant improvements as time went on,” he said. “We answered basically the same questions every week from classmates, so it was interesting to get questions from people who were not involved with the process.”

Kang Li, an assistant professor in the School of Engineering, said the class was developed to give students the chance to experience a real-life problem with the ability to ask professors for help when necessary.

“We wanted them to integrate and apply their knowledge to a problem,” he said. “Something from a textbook has no application. This allowed them to deal with groups and use the knowledge from their classes.”

Li said the class gives students the chance to work on projects that would take place outside of the classroom and teaches them skills that they can take with them to future jobs.

But the groups had limitations to work with while they designed and created their projects.

“All of the groups were given a budget of $600 to work with,” he said. “They also had to have three parts to their projects: a mechanical design, some type of software integration and optimization. They had to include optimization because we want them to have actual experience.”

E.A. Elsayed, a professor in the School of Engineering who also taught the class, said the projects were designed to allow students to experience the stresses and problems of their peers in the field.

“We wanted to train the students and give them real-life experience,” he said. “We wanted to include everything from A to Z, from the economics of a project to working in teams while under budget constraints.”

Elsayed said that while they are given limitations, sometimes problems arise and teams will work with professors to figure out solutions.

“Sometimes groups will run over budget,” he said. “Sometimes they won’t know how to handle or work with a vendor, so we are here.”

Elsayed said one of the biggest challenges of this project from the professor’s side is coming up with projects for the students. Every year professors come up with new ideas so that there are never repeats.

“Our biggest challenge is coming up with projects that can be completed within a semester that have elements from real life,” he said. “We are always seeking innovative ideas and the planning for next year will start [Friday] afternoon when I go back to my office.”

Li said that while the course is tough, it is meant to prepare students for life after graduation.

“It’s not enough torture for the students,” he said.