Senior Design Projects

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I'm not terribly sure why an engineering project necessitates it to be something directly applicable to the real world, especially since with a senior design project we're talking about the academic world.

I think perhaps a better suggestion would be to make sure you're working with your advisor to ensure that the project will meet your institution's standards for senior projects, which it sounds like Ryan is...

OK, if a "neat thing" meet's your customer's (professor/engineering department) needs, then carry on. Everything I remember hearing from engineering students when I was in college, reinforced by a few current engineering students (team alumni for the most part) seem to stress that an engineering project should fill a real need. Maybe it's just a Louisiana state colleges thing.

[Jon Stratis]

Personally... I think you have enough inspection experience sticking your head in robots to have a feel for something more teams have trouble with. Sure, swerve is cool and an interesting engineering problem, but if your goal is to benefit teams, go for the 90% of teams, not the 10% (or less) that will attempt swerve in the next few years!

[Ginger Power]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Personally... I think you have enough inspection experience sticking your head in robots to have a feel for something more teams have trouble with. Sure, swerve is cool and an interesting engineering problem, but if your goal is to benefit teams, go for the 90% of teams, not the 10% (or less) that will attempt swerve in the next few years!

This is great advice Jon, thanks! I'm certain I can think of something that will benefit more teams!

Thanks for the input as well Nick!

[Jon Stratis]

It's just so amazing to think of how products have come up to serve the FIRST community over the years. There never used to be gear boxes, drive trains, or chassis designed for FIRST robots. Achieving the minimum robot design is more accessible than ever, and the goal for anyone looking to improve things should be to improve the minimum capabilities for teams!

[wajirock]

For your design project you could look into making motor driven linear movement more accessible to FRC teams. From what I know of, most forms of motor driven linear movement are out of the reach of most FRC teams. DART Linear actuators are really expensive, and belts and lead screws are somewhat difficult to work with. I've seen lots of hypothetical designs for alternate mechanisms, and I think it'd be really cool and beneficial if you could make an alternative motor driven linear actuator that is affordable for most FRC teams and can hold up against the rigor of an FRC match.

[QuatroDoesGood]

Some time ago there was a post about someone building an UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) that shoots airsoft pellets on the FRC Subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/FRC/comment...lly_nooby_and/
It looks like a pretty cool idea that I personally would be all over doing

[OccamzRazor]

The NASA Lunabotics Competition (now martian) is one of the closest experiences to FRC I could find in a senior project. Lunar mining is not easy, and full autonomy is even harder. I competed with a team of eight individuals on some insanely tight constraints.

This was our monstrosity. It was the first rover from my university to be successful in competition at mining and depositing lunar simulants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaodHQC_MIo

[Ginger Power]

Originally Posted by OccamzRazor

The NASA Lunabotics Competition (now martian) is one of the closest experiences to FRC I could find in a senior project. Lunar mining is not easy, and full autonomy is even harder. I competed with a team of eight individuals on some insanely tight constraints.

This was our monstrosity. It was the first rover from my university to be successful in competition at mining and depositing lunar simulants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaodHQC_MIo

Very cool design! Bison Robotics is actually competing in the NASA Robotics Mining Competition already. I would agree that it's a great next-level competition from FRC. As per Bison Robotics' policy, I won't be able to do this competition as a senior design project, but it's a great suggestion!

[Billfred]

The one FIRST-specific senior design project that stuck out to me is the 254/968 2007 super-duper-lightweight 2-speed.

https://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/28070
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/28709
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27018

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

OK, if a "neat thing" meet's your customer's (professor/engineering department) needs, then carry on. Everything I remember hearing from engineering students when I was in college, reinforced by a few current engineering students (team alumni for the most part) seem to stress that an engineering project should fill a real need. Maybe it's just a Louisiana state colleges thing.

I probably have a slightly orthogonal view of engineering to yours, since I'm not a "real" engineer (I'm a computer science guy). From that perspective, I've always seen a value in pushing what one thinks is possible from oneself. I suppose I see innovation as a key part of it, and sometimes that means pushing the boundaries of what might be possible without knowing what the gains might be.

As in many things, my opinions on this subject aren't entirely formed yet. I can see how my ideas might seem a bit odd or immature to you, given your perhaps more extensive experience.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Personally... I think you have enough inspection experience sticking your head in robots to have a feel for something more teams have trouble with. Sure, swerve is cool and an interesting engineering problem, but if your goal is to benefit teams, go for the 90% of teams, not the 10% (or less) that will attempt swerve in the next few years!

Love this tack on it. Of course, perhaps the greater challenge is figuring out how to help those teams benefit from your work.