Promoting Innovation in a Junior-level, Multidisciplinary, Electro-Mechanical Design Course

Abstract

Junior students in engineering and engineering technology programs at Western Carolina University (WCU) take a multidisciplinary design course as a key component of their four-year project-based learning (PBL) sequence. The course is designed to capitalize on the students' diverse technical backgrounds and build on the skills they developed in the freshman-and sophomore-level PBL courses. The junior-level course, ENGR 350 (Engineering Principles and Practices III), hosts students from all four undergraduate programs in the school, spanning electrical and mechanical realms. ENGR 350 is in its fourth academic year and introduces students to the product development process by allowing them to design, build, and test alpha prototypes that are student-generated ideas. Students propose ideas that are electro-mechanical in nature; they are grouped into teams; and they go through the product development cycle of a subset of the project ideas. Not only has this course become an outstanding opportunity to assess each program at a common point, it has served as a key feeder to the senior capstone project, a two-semester sequence that is industry sponsored. Projects that have been implemented in ENGR 350 have been wide-ranging in nature, such as a motor-driven fishing reel for anglers with the use of one arm; an inexpensive water-filtration system for countries with water challenges; a self-propelled longboard (skateboard) with braking capability; a flounder-gigging pole designed for night use; an emergency cell phone charger that is shaker-activated; autonomous robots for regional competitions; and a bicycle-powered lighted safety device for bikers. In addition to its key role in the PBL course sequence, this ENGR 350 course has satisfied a need expressed by the school's Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC), which meets annually to provide feedback on the engineering and engineering technology programs. The IAC had encouraged WCU to promote innovation in multidisciplinary engineering design. The ENGR 350 course was in its infancy at the time, and has developed into a strong example of what the IAC had requested. This paper showcases a few projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of this course in the project-based learning curriculum.