Education Through Competition: Mobile Platform Technology

摘要

Abstract NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Session 1447 Education Through Competition: Mobile Platform Technology J. A. Morgan and J. R. Porter Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 Introduction The Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering Technology (EET/TET) Programs at Texas A&M University have developed a competition-based course project that centers on a mobile robot. The robot, named MPIII and shown in Figure 1, integrates wireless TCP/IP networking, streaming video, and data acquisition to allow students to remotely sense the environment and control the operation of the platform. The project meets several key educational objectives including applied research and design in the undergraduate environment, team interaction, technology integration, testing, and technical communications to include written, oral, and web-based documentation. The EET/TET Programs are now ready to invite other universities to join them in the continued development of these technologies and to focus on a multi- university competition that would bring students together to share experiences in an enjoyable, yet competitive environment. Four-member teams are formed at the beginning of each semester, and each team must satisfy a set of fundamental requirements during the first half of the semester that include remote monitoring and control of the platform. Throughout the remainder of the semester, the student teams compete with one another in developing enhanced features for the MPIII Platform. Then, at the end of the semester, all teams participate in a winner-take- all competition. The Figure 1. Red, White, and Blue MPIII Platforms. Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Copyright  2003, American Society for Engineering Education