Faculty Member(s) / Advisors
Professor Robert Shaefer, Adjunct Professor of Engineering, MAE
Professor Dennis Hong, Professor of Engineering, MAE
Graduate or Undergraduate
Students
Challenges met
Although the Mechanical Engineering department has 3D printers, access to these machines is severely limited due to the high volume of students, and low volume of output of the printers themselves. Professors Shaefer and Hong have expressed interest in redesigning their Capstone Design Courses to incorporate the Library's increasing resources. What this will allow them to do is increase the number of teams while decreasing the number of students per team, thus giving students a chance for more hands-on, direct involvement in the design and fabrication process of the course.
As indicated by Professor Shaefer, he currently oversees 13 five-member teams. Our goal is to limit teams to no more than three members. With that in mind, and in response to the workload we experienced in the Spring Quarter of 2017, recommendations were made to increase the number of 3D printers to a total of nine: five MakerBots, two Lulzbots, one Airwolf, and one Form 2. We are also implementing a new workflow over the summer that is designed to increase efficiency, empower students to more easily make requests, and greatly enhance our ability to communicate with our users.
Pictures
| Expand |
|---|
| title | All MAE 162D/E students on the final day of the robot competition |
|---|
|
|
| Expand |
|---|
| title | A few examples of the robots. Note the amount of 3D printed parts (in white) |
|---|
|
|
| Expand |
|---|
| title | Robots must autonomously navigate this course and deposit a golf ball in a basket |
|---|
|
|