Final Paper pdf 117KB

Auditory Assistant – Perspectives On A Robotic Senior Design Project

One of the highlights of engineering education is the senior capstone project. Projects come with their unique challenges and opportunities for greater impact. Likewise, student perspectives in their capstone design experience represent an important milestone and influence their expectations of an engineering career. The importance of the capstone design has increased in undergraduate engineering programs, viewed as a critical portion of engineering education. Typically, much of the curriculum is devoted to engineering analysis. On the contrary, senior capstone design stresses application of a broad base of knowledge in much more specific contexts. Senior design allows students to enhance their learning and problem solving experience with open-ended problems and real world constraints and perhaps allows them to conduct research and solve engineering problems with experts or multiple stakeholders beyond the typical single instructor. In some engineering programs, capstone courses play a critical role in further developing professional skills necessary for effective engineering practice, including project management, communication, and collaboration. This paper highlights student perspectives working on a follow on robotic senior design project that stemmed from a robotic hand. They will discuss their design project, processes, software development, and lessons learned from a robotic hand. Students will self-report the learning that occurs in these senior design projects, challenges, and their level of preparation once they graduate.