Design Projects
We plan to hold four design projects. Wherever possible, we will take a short break from lectures to give you time to work on the projects.
Brief summaries of each project are given below. Full details, including due dates will be posted on this page in due course.
1. Design and construction of a spring loaded mass launcher
In this project you will use MATLAB simulations to design a simple system to launch a mass to the maximum possible height. You will assemble and test the device.
Organization:
- This project may be done individually, or in groups of two or three. If you do the project in a group, each group member must provide an evaluation of the performance of their team-mate on the project.
- To complete the project you must (i) submit a copy of the MATLAB code you used to do the design calculations; (ii) hand in a one page description of your design; (iii) give a short oral presentation describing your design calculations; and (iv) assemble and demonstrate your design.
- You will assemble and demonstrate your design to faculty or TAs. Just prior to testing, you should give a short (10 min) presentation describing your design procedure. Your MATLAB code and design summary is due at the presentation.
2. Non-Trivial Pursuit
How to upload files for the pursuit project testing
Pursuit problems are ubiquitous in engineering, mathematics, and computer science. The 'Homicidal Chauffeur Problem' is a famous example. For a more humane example from biology, you could watch this famous movie of a white blood-cell chasing a bacterium. In the classic pursuit problem, a fast, but poorly maneuverable hunter chases a slower, but highly maneuverable prey. The hunter and prey both seek optimal strategies to catch, or to escape, their competitor.
In this design project you will work on a computerized version of a pursuit problem that represents, approximately, a white blood cell in pursuit of a live bacterium, or perhaps more accurately one of DARPA’s nano-robots in pursuit of a smaller one (we will give the predator and prey large masses compared to the viscous drag forces, which is not an accurate model of a blood cell pursuing a bacterium). The predator must choose the magnitude and direction of its propulsive force to try to catch the prey; while the prey must try to escape.
The goal of the design project is to write MATLAB scripts that determine the forces that must act on the predator and the prey to achieve their objectives. Your design team must write codes for both predator and prey. Your codes will then be tested against those of a competing group. The winning team will be chosen based on a combination of how long your prey can escape the competing predator, together with how quickly your predator can catch the prey designed by the competing team.
Organization:
- This project must be done in groups of 2-4 students. It may also be done individually, but this is not recommended.
- The project deliverables are:
- A MATLAB script that determines the forces to act on predator / prey given the positions and velocities of the two competitors
- A report (one per group) describing your design procedure and solution
- An oral presentation to faculty, TAs and the competing team summarizing your design process and solution
- An individual statement of your contribution to the team, which will be graded by team members.
3. Vibration/Rigid-Body Project: Using a Trifilar Pendulum to Measure Moments of Inertia
MATLAB script to solve full EOM for trifilar pendulum
In this project, you will construct a device - the Trifilar Pendulum - to measure the mass moments of inertia of various objects. You will test the device by using it to measure the inertia of a calibration disk. You will then measure the inertia of several objects with complex shapes. Your grade will be based partly on the accuracy of your device.
Organization:
- This project may be done in groups of between one and three students.
- The project `deliverables’; are (i) An analysis relating the measured frequency of vibration to the mass moment of inertia of the test object; (ii) An assembled and tested pendulum; (ii) A report (one report per group) describing your design, and describing the experiments and calculations you used to design it; (iii) a short oral presentation describing your design and design procedures; and (v) a short evaluation of the performance of your team-mates on the project
4. Design and construction of a small solar-powered vehicle
In this project you will design and construct a small solar powered vehicle to climb a ramp at the maximum possible speed. (Since nobody wants to test the vehicle outside at this time of year your vehicle will drive up a ramp that is illuminated by incandescent light bulbs instead!)
Organization:
- This project may be done in groups of between two and four students.
- The project `deliverables’; are (i) An assembled and tested vehicle; (ii) A report (one report per group) describing your design, and describing the experiments and calculations you used to design it; (iii) a short oral presentation describing your design and design procedures; and (iv) a short evaluation of the performance of your team-mates on the project.