Project & Workshop Library

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A library of high-quality, tested, hands-on team-based society-focused projects for first-year students. These projects are designed to increase the recruitment, persistence to degree, and satisfaction of all students, and particularly women, in baccalaureate EE, CE, CS and EET degree programs.

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Featured Projects 

Manipulating Everyday Objects with Prosthetic Hands

In this project, students learn how prostheses that use robotic technology can improve the lives of people with disabilities. In the laboratory, the students use Lego Mindstorms NXT kits to create an artificial arm or hand that can lift small objects, such as a coffee cup. In the process, students discover and explore the following concepts and ideas: Hooke's Law, hysteresis, Newton's Second Law, accuracy and precision, rapid prototyping, and the relationship between the voltage applied to a motor and its speed.
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Smart Vehicles

In this project, students learn how making automobiles more autonomous can make them safer, by providing functionality like anti-lock braking, self parallel parking, and lane departure warnings. In the laboratory, the students work with small motorized cars with infrared sensors, programming the cars to spin in a circle, stop on a line, and follow a curvy path. In the process, the students learn about infrared sensors, motors, and embedded systems. A code framework is provided so that minimal programming skills are required.
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Energy System Design: A Look at Renewable Energy

In this project, students learn how harvesting energy from renewable sources will help meet the future needs of society. In the laboratory, the students will develop a system to store energy from a renewable source (represented in the laboratory by a light bulb, a box fan, or flowing water). The students will transport the energy, and use it to supply an electrical load (a light bulb) in a different physical location. In the process, students will learn about energy and power, and will learn about
analysis of physical systems, modeling and simulation, and design under constraints.
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