BE1200, Basic Engineering I:

Design in Engineering

 

Fall 2008

 

Section #13741

Room: 1005 Manufacturing Bldg.

Class Start/END Dates: September 2 – December 18

 

Tu & Thu: 10:40 pm – 1:05 pm

 

Instructor

Professor Mohamad Hassoun

Office: 3127 Engineering Building

Tel. 313-577-3966

e-mail: hassoun@eng.wayne.edu

www: http://neuron.eng.wayne.edu

 

 

Approach: ENGINEERING DESIGN with LEGO® MindstormsTM

 

The idea behind this freshman robotics design course is to expose students to real engineering as early as possible, to motivate their studies in necessary mathematics and science courses while they are taking them, and to teach explicitly some programming and manual skills they mostly lack. Students work in teams of 2-3 individuals to design, build and demonstrates autonomous machines that interact with their environment in real time.  The goal is to generate real enthusiasm ‑‑ the "Aha!" that accompanies insight as students grasp that they can, for example, model interesting physical phenomena with a little mathematics, science and judgment ‑‑ and let them get their hands dirty on real problems. This experience demonstrates to new students the practical need for more preparation in subsequent mathematics and science classes and also provides students with the elementary hands‑on laboratory and programming skills that they often lack. The course culminates in a final contest challenge where student teams have their robots compete against each other on a predefined set of tasks.

Goals: The idea behind this freshman robotics design course is to expose students to real engineering as early as possible, to motivate their studies in necessary mathematics and science courses, and to teach explicitly some programming, teamwork and hands-on robot building skills. The main objective is to introduce students to the basic elements of programming and design. The approach is a fun, hands-on laboratory-based approach that involves groups of students working in small teams to generate physical realization of their own inventions. The students will gain an appreciation of practical engineering product design issues indirectly as they play with their own toy-like creations.

Learning Objectives: After completing this course, students should be able to do the following:

o       Identify a simple engineering problem

o       Identify the goals and constraints associated with the problem

o       Design a simple engineering system

o       Develop alternative solutions to an engineering problem

o       Evaluate the design of the engineering system in comparison with the developed goals and constraints

o       Develop and implement simple algorithms and programs as part of the system design

o       Discuss the various fields of engineering

o       Identify the ethical issues related to an engineering problem

o       Work in multi-disciplinary teams to solve engineering problems

o       Identify the societal impact of engineering solutions

The following is a list of some specific objectives:

  1. Students will become comfortable in working on a project in small teams where each individual in a team would be responsible for completing specific assigned tasks. Students will employ basic communications and teamwork.
  2. Students will gain an understanding of the iterative, feedback nature of the design process which involves the following steps: Defining a problem (in this course the problem would be to build an autonomous vehicle/robot) and its objectives, identifying constrains, identifying the materials and design aids available for them, generating a plan for tackling the problem, assigning tasks among team members (hardware tasks, software tasks, recording and data gathering tasks, communications tasks, etc.), building a prototype and generating program code for its operation, testing the prototype, refining the prototype and debugging its software (this involves a number of iterations of design modifications and testing), assessing the success of the various design modifications, and last arriving at a final implementation (a machine that meets all design requirements) along with complete operation and software documentation.
  3. Students will learn how to build structurally stable machines made out of frames, wheels, steering mechanisms, gears, shafts, gripping mechanisms, etc. This is accomplished by actual hands-on experimentation with various LEGO building components.
  4. Students will learn a basic version of the C programming language (NQC, which stands for “Not Quite C”). They will demonstrate an understanding of this language by successfully generating NQC code for controlling their autonomous vehicle inventions.
  5. Students will gain an appreciation for the hidden difficulties of sensing physical quantities (such as obstacles, color, light, temperature, etc.) and the intricate issue involved in using such measured values to automatically (under microprocessor control) navigate a robot or control an autonomous machine. This gained appreciation is expected to “open their eyes” and lead them to ask probing questions about the nature of physical signals and the internal working of sensory devices, motors, microprocessors, and LEDs; just the type of questions whose answers await in later engineering courses.
  6. This early freshman design experience has the objective of smoothing the transition to junior and senior-level capstone design courses and  help integrating the design experience throughout the undergraduate curriculum.
  7. Develop oral and written communications skills (this includes the utilization of presentation, word-processing, and spreadsheet software, and employing elements of technical report writing).
  8. Students will be able to use e-mail and search the web to obtain relevant material.

 

Instructor Information:

Name: Mohamad H. Hassoun, Professor

Office: 3127 Engineering. Building

Office Phone: (313) 577-3966

Email: hassoun@eng.wayne.edu

WWW: http://neuron.eng.wayne.edu

 

Office Hours:        

Prof. Hassoun: 9:00 – 10:30am,  T & Th (Room 3127 Engng) and by appointment.

 

Textbooks:

Definitive Guide to LEGO Mindstorms, 2nd Edition, Dave Baum (Apress, 2003).

Building Robots with Lego Mindstorms, Mario Ferrari, Giulio Ferrari, and Ralph Hempel (SYNGRESS, 2002).

 

Reference Texts/Materials:

Introduction to Engineering, 3rd edition, Paul Wright (Wiley, 2002).

Engineering Design: A Project-Based Introduction, Clive Dym and Patrick Little (Wiley, 2000).

Extreme Mindstorms: An Advanced Guide to LEGO Mindstorms, Dave Baum et al. (Apress, 2000).

Robotics Explorations, Fred G. Martin (Prentice Hall, 2001).

“Mindstorms: Not Just a Kid’s Toy”, Paul Wallich, IEEE Spectrum, September 2001, pp.52-57.

Web-assisted course material including lecture notes, laboratory manual, reference material, relevant links and announcements and grades are located at:

 http://neuron.eng.wayne.edu/LEGO_ROBOTICS/lego_robotics.html

Prerequisites by Topic: (MAT 1800) Basic definition and concept of function. Definitions, properties and graphs of polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and inverse trigonometric functions.

Prerequisites and co-requisites are checked automatically at the time of registration.  However, it is ultimately a student's responsibility to make certain that they have the prerequisites and co-requisites for a course.  Students must remain registered for a co-requisite course throughout the semester. Advisors will check course prerequisites and co-requisites during the 5th and 6th week of the semester.  Any student found to be registered for a course without meeting these requirements, and without an official waiver on file, will be administratively withdrawn from the course.

Distribution of Points: The final grade for this course will be based on the following four components:

Class attendance, organization, and participation  (10%)

Weekly quizzes (25%)

Web page design and contents (including weekly progress reports and lessons learned) (20%)

Midterm project (conceived and designed and implemented by individual teams) (20%)

Final project (based on Contest) (25%)

 

There will be a total of 12 weekly quizzes. Only the ten highest quiz grades will be counted.

 

Grading Scale:

Percentage/Grade/(Honor Point Value)

95-100       A        (4.00)

90-94         A-       (3.67)

85-89         B+      (3.33)

80-84         B        (3.00)

75-79         B-       (2.67)

70-74         C+      (2.33)

65-69         C        (2.00)

60-64         C-       (1.67)

55-59         D+      (1.33)

50-54         D        (1.00)

45-49         D-       (0.67)

0-44           F        (0.00)

 

Teams formation: Students work in teams of 2-3 individuals. Your instructor will assign your team based on a questionnaire that you will complete during the first week of class.

 

Attendance: Attendance is required for all lectures and lab sessions. Students who do not complete the coursework, but fail to officially withdraw from the course will receive an F or X depending on how much coursework has been completed. A grade of I will be available only if the student needs to complete at most the final project.

 

Schedule: In accordance with the University policy on Early Progress Assessment, at least one quiz will be given before the end of the fourth week of classes and will be graded and returned before the end of the fifth week of classes. The grades for these quizzes will be used to determine student performance during the Early Progress Assessment period.

 

There will be a quiz for 15 – 20 minutes every week at the beginning of one of the lecture session.

 

The final exam is scheduled according to the published university final exam schedule.

 

The last day to drop any class with a tuition refund is the end of the second week of classes. The last day to withdraw from the class, without a notation of W on the transcript, is the end of the fourth week of classes.

 

Makeup Exam and Makeup Assignment Policy: No make up quizzes. A student may miss up to 2 quizzes without affecting his/her grade; however, missing two quizzes means that a student’s total quiz score would be determined by the remaining 10 quizzes.

Topics:

1.      Introduction: Course description, course web page exploration; Introduction to the Lego Robotics Invention System; Introduction of programming software and other tools; The RCX: Output ports, input ports, Lego connectors, motors and sensors; Tankbot assembly (1 week)

2.      BricxCC & NQC programming; Experimenting with Tankbot; RCX display control (1 week)

3.      Introduction to web hosting; Construction skills Part I; NQC programming: Control structures; More experimentation with Tankbot  (1 week)

4.      Construction skills Part II; NQC programming: Tasks, functions and subroutines (1 week)

5.      Bugbot  programming and testing: tasks vs. functions;  More about motors; Construction skills Part III: The Differential ( 1 week)

6.      The RCX and advanced sensing: active vs. passive sensing; Rotation, bend, tilt, photocell, and other sensors(1 week)

7.      RCX Math and the Mapping of Passive Sensor Readings; Demonstration of Line Follower-Shooter robot; Work on Midterm project (1 week)

8.      Music and sound; NQC Tutorial; Brick's Music Studio; BricCC configuration; Midterm Projects due (demonstrations) (1 week)

9.      IR Communication (RCX IR–based proximity sensor); Datalogging (graphing data using a spreadsheet); Example uses of repeat, for, and switch instructions (1 week)

10.   Solving RCX I/O port limitations; Sensor tips and tricks; Scanbot programming & testing (1 week)

11.   RCX math: averaging; arrays; Steerbot programming and testing;  (1 week)

12.   More on Timers & Counters; Brick Sorter programming and testing; Final contest specifications (1 week)

13.   Final contest Challenge: Design, build, program, test and compete (2 weeks)

Course Structure: The course is taught in a hands-on setting where brief lectures are followed immediately by experimentations. The class meets twice a week.

Computer Resources: Students are expected to use their own laptops in the classroom.

Laboratory Resources: Robot kits and software  (BricxCC & NQC) will be provided by the college.

Laboratory Policy: There is absolutely no smoking, eating or drinking in any ECE instructional laboratory. These labs must be kept neat and each student is responsible for insuring that the equipment on his/her workbench is neatly arranged, that all components and equipment are put away at the end of the session, and that are no scraps of paper or other garbage left on or near his/her workstation. Coats, briefcases, knapsacks and other personal belongings are not permitted on or near the benches. The door to the lab must be kept locked at all times; unlocking or propping open the door at any time is expressly forbidden. Guests are not permitted in the lab at any time, and no one but the instructor may open the door to admit anyone after the class has begun.

Student teams may borrow the kits overnight or over the weekend, but only after getting permission from the professor-in-charge of the course. In this case, the students must sign the kits out and be responsible for all its contents. There will be a fee of $125 to the student if he/she damages the RCX microcontroller. A student who loses a borrowed kit will be charged $350.  The kits must be returned with all components in good working condition. The components must be sorted in the supplied plastic bins in the same way they were given at the beginning of the term. No final grades will be assigned to a given team members unless that team returns their kit (in the condition just described) the day after the final contest.

Cheating and Penalty for Cheating: Cheating is defined by the University as “intentionally using or attempting to use, or intentionally providing or attempting to provide, unauthorized materials, information, or assistance in any academic exercise.” This includes any group efforts on assignments or exams unless specifically approved by the professor for that assignment or exam. Evidence of fabrication or plagiarism, as defined by the University in its brochure “Academic Integrity,” will also result in downgrading for the course.  Students who cheat on any assignment or during any examination will be assigned a failing grade for the course.