Engineering Source talked with a few Electrical and Computer Engineering students about their senior design projects and the opportunity to showcase their hard work in person at E-Days on Friday, April 22.
In their own words:
Vani Kapoor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, GoKart
How would you describe your project to a non-engineer?
It’s literally what it sounds like! It’s a fully electric go-kart that runs off of similar of the similar principles that modern day electric cars run off of. We’ve added features like solar panels and a user interface (much like the touch screen in a Tesla) to add to the fun and excitement of the project. That all really makes it a good teaching tool which we use during ECE outreach events to teach kids about engineering.
What’s been the most fun you’ve had working on this project?
The most fun I’ve had has been really seeing this project come to life. The best part about a car is that you can drive it and seeing everything plugged in, working and being able to use all of the features that we built in work while operating the vehicle is very rewarding.
What’s one thing you’ll take from this process to graduation?
As an engineer especially in management, understanding and accepting that projects aren’t linear and extremely iterative is something that I will take into my career post college. The design and implementation process may include taking 3 steps forward and 5 steps back but in the end learning how to get around these issues and the way design works is something that I value taking in from this project.
Jared Davis, Electrical and Computer Engineering, RamBOTS
How would you describe your project to a non-engineer?
Our project is attached to the Electrical and Computer Engineering departments outreach team. Our main goal is to design and build projects that will help students of all ages to get inspired to join in some way in the STEMM field. Our project is building a robotic dog and the goal for it is eventually having it go to events and walk around campus to act as a mascot for us.
What’s been the most fun you’ve had working on this project?
Simply being able to get my hands on a project I am very interested in. In our field a lot of what we study is theoretical and at times feels like we don’t have a way to apply this to the real world, but with design projects like this it reminds us why we got into the engineering field and reignite our passion.
What’s one thing you’ll take from this process to graduation?
There are always hiccups that come along the way that you would never think of especially in the way the world has changed the past few years. For example, with chip shortages getting parts can be a major issue and take months to arrive. Learning how to adapt and rework a project was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. I will be able to use these skills no matter what I end up doing and I am very thankful for the experience.
