Experimental Project

Abstract

Each participant develops a complete, functional, technical system. Starting from the initial idea, a mechanical concept and an electrical design are created. Then, the parts are fabricated and assembled, followed by programming the software and measuring the function, before finally analyzing generated data and documenting the process.

Objective

This practical project should complement the preceding courses of the MAS AT and allow the participants to independently put the learned theory into practice. Participants will gain a wide range of practical experiences in hardware and software, touching every aspect of R&D prototype development.

Content

The participants are encouraged to come up with their own project ideas and pursue them with support from the teachers. Example projects will be available for inspiration and as templates and can be adopted instead of an own idea with as little or as many modifications as desired. In any case, the individual development will start from the ground up, using pre-fabricated components as little as possible. A lecture series teaches the basics, exercises cover the first own steps in each topic and manufacturing and testing of the prototypes will occur during several hands-on sessions in the APS lab. Most of the work on the project should be completed independently, using freely available software running on the participants’ computer and corresponding education resources. The topics include • Conceptualization of an idea and planning the realization • Electrical design of circuits and PCBs using ECAD software • Assembly and soldering of PCBs • Mechanical design of housing and mechanical components using CAD software • Manufacturing of mechanical components using a 3D printer • Programming embedded software to run on a microcontroller • Programming computer software to interface with the hardware and analyze data • Testing of the desired functionality and measurement of the electrical workings • Report of the process, the finished prototype and analysis of generated data

Resources