Procedure

Step 1:

1. Form a team of exactly 4 students using piazza. Log on to piazza and use thread titled “Search for Teammates” to meet with students virtually. Try to form a balance between programming, electronics, and mechanical prototyping capabilities among the members. Once you have four members, join a group on Blackboard -- click on Groups tab on your Course Page to join a group. Go in the increasing order of the group numbers. Next, fill in the team members’ information in the “Team Information Sheet” and send this sheet by email by 10/20 11:59pm to the TA at

zhijie.lyu@stonybrook.edu

Make the subject of your email as “Team <#> - Team Information Sheet, MEC101”. Replace <#> with the actual number of your team.

Upload it under Team Information Sheet assignment on Blackboard. Only one team member needs to submit it. Please make sure that the right members are part of your team.

It is your responsibility to get together with your classmates and form a team. If you do not have a team by the above date, you cannot start the project. Anyone not part of a team by 10/20 will not get any credit for this project.

Team members are welcome to share parts among themselves to build their robot as long as they can do it safely. If you can't share parts, you can still share ideas, codes, circuits, and design solutions with one another in a team.

Step 2:

As soon as your team is decided, meet with your teammates and discuss the problem that you would like to solve. Apply design thinking and interview your clients for whom you want to solve the problem. Back up your claim of a good problem with the evidences collected during interviews. Decide one project that you would like to work on as a team. The key to choosing a good project is to understand that you have finite time and limited resources to do it. Also, choose something that truly excites you and you feel passionate about. Based on the meetings, decide one robot that you would like to design, program, and build. In addition, include a backup proposal. Make your preferences absolutely clear. Submit a single project proposal on blackboard using the template provided. This is due on 10/23 on blackboard. You will submit it digitally on blackboard under assignment Project Proposal. This is a team assignment so only one member will need to submit it under your team number.

Step 3:

After your submission of the project proposal, I will inform you if your main or backup proposal has been approved or not by next day. If I approve it, you can start working on it right away. If not, I will ask you by email to submit another proposal. Delaying this process will leave you less time to work on your project.

Step 4:

After your project has been approved, each student must brainstorm and come up with at least two ideas (more the better) as to how your chosen robot would perform its main motion. These ideas should be sketched and documented in a design notebook that each student should have. Each student should sketch his/her own idea and then the team should meet to discuss the ideas within one week. Do not shoot down other’s ideas even if in your opinion it does not seem promising. There may be one good thing about that idea that perhaps your’s or someone else’s design can adopt.

Select a design or make a new design by combining the best of everyone’s ideas. All the team members have to agree to just one design. Use your SnappyXO kit to create prototype to demonstrate the working of your idea. Be a smart salesperson – if you believe in your idea, sell it to your team-mates. This is part of effective communication. This step should be completed by Oct 30.

Step 5:

Begin to sketch or draw your designs and the parts in Autodesk Inventor. If you need a specialized part that is not in the SnappyXO kit, you will provide a justification for laser cutting it and submit the design to TAs by Nov. 5. It is strongly recommended that you make use of the parts that you already have instead of asking for a custom cut as this may delay your project. I will provide a template for this. All the parts drawing should fit in a single 12’’x12’’ sheet.

Step 6:

If you request a custom cut part, you will have to pick them up within a week. Assemble parts, complete the prototype with actuators, sensors, and microcontroller, program it, test it, and evaluate its performance. Testing is very important. Go back to the design or prototyping stage to rectify the problems seen during testing.

Step 7:

Demonstrate your machine in the class. You will not be allowed to fiddle or change anything at the time of demonstration. See the rules again. The machine has to be ready to be demonstrated at the touch of a switch and be removed within a few seconds after finishing its motion.

All team members have to be present while their prototype is being demonstrated, as judges may choose to ask technical questions from any member to ascertain their participation in the project. There are no exception to this. Anyone not present at the venue for demonstration of their project will not get any credit.

Once you are part of a team, you cannot change your team. You can’t complain if someone is not working on the team. If that happened, everyone’s grade in the team will suffer. Find a way to work together; that is how things are in real life.

Step 8:

Complete Peer Evaluation. The google form link will be posted at a later date.