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Course Highlights

Induction week: Egg Race

From the very first day of arriving at Brunel, all School of Engineering and Design undergraduate students are put into groups to tackle an Induction Week project. This activity allows students to meet with and get to know fellow students on their course as well as their personal tutor and other staff in their subject area. In the past, the project has involved designing a contraption from materials found around campus to successfully transport an egg down a rope to a target area. A number of challenge rules make this harder than it sounds, the constructions being released from the top of a rope structure and the egg needing to be deposited as close as possible to the centre of a target 5m away and 1.5m below the rope with minimum damage to the egg! Judges award marks for the performance and the design of each contraption, and prizes are awarded for the best projects.

Level 1: Multidisciplinary Project

The Level 1 Multidisciplinary Project (MDP) is a one week long project-based learning activity that takes place at the end of the first term. It involves students from across the different subject areas within the School of Engineering and Design, working together in teams to design, build and demonstrate a robotic vehicle. The MDP allows students to put into practice some of the technical skills they have learnt during their first term at university while also providing a valuable opportunity to develop key communication, time management and team working skills, all of which are highly sought after by industry.

Level 2: Electronic project

The aim of this activity is to provide experience of the processes involved in designing small electronic systems which are to perform to a given specification. It is also intended that the exercise be relevant to the EA1 requirements of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. The principal object is to gain experience in using initiative when working on an unrehearsed problem. The advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to satisfying a design specification are investigated. During completion of electronic project the students gain experience of prototype construction techniques, of the selection and use of laboratory equipment to assess prototype performance, and of PCB layout.

Level 3: Engineering final year project

Case study: Autonomous and Remote Control Monitoring Robotic Vehicle by Mr Juan Carlos Jacome Fernandez

Supervised by Dr T Kalganova.

The notion of autonomous and remote monitoring basically consists of retrieval of data from a distant location. The purpose of this project is to design, build and implement a fully functional system that enables a robotic vehicle to collect and send data in an autonomously and a remotely manner. Such robotic vehicle could be used for exploration, search, mapping, rescue, surveillance, tracking, monitoring, etc.

A robotic vehicle was designed and built using a commercial available robotic kit. Sensors were used to measure and gather data to interact with its environment. Three servo motors give mobility to the vehicle and allow the camera device to be tilt. Screen images along with voice and sound effects were also implemented to interact with users.

An autonomous program was implemented to control all the interactive elements of the robotic vehicle. To remotely control the robotic vehicle three different open-source programs were used (Server, Client, Remote) and (iNXT Remote), it will be connected via Bluetooth to the control computer (Host) which it will run the server program to permit a second computer (Client) and iPhone (Mobile Client) running the client or iNXT Remote programs respectively and connected to the same network to control the robotic vehicle.

To make the robotic vehicle truly remote the Bluetooth connection range with a control computer must be extended. Three devices were designed and built to effectively extend the Bluetooth communication range between the robotic vehicle and the control computer.

An iPhone was used to transmit and receive video, audio and GPS data. Three different applications were used to continuously and simultaneously run a videoconferencing communication and a GPS tracking system. In order to use the iPhone’s camera and screen at the same time an image reflection accessory was designed, built and implemented, allowing the remote user to see and to be seen within the robotic vehicle surroundings.

All the different elements previously mentioned that constitute the project were tested using corresponding testing procedures and additional programs, to determine problems and find possible solutions.

The contribution of the project are the following:

1. The image reflection accessory design method is an original work developed for this project; alternative devices were found but just work when iPhone is vertically positioned.
2. The Bluetooth dongle with external antenna adapter design method and the WokFi design method are exclusively developed for this project; alternative designs were found but used different methods and materials.
3. The overall architecture has been designed to facilitate the implementation of the cheapest possible solution with extension of the most features possible.
4. The bumper system structure of the robotic vehicle used to detect objects is an exclusive design of this project such usage of the touch sensors was not found in any researched designs. The design of a movable frame equipped with LED torches to hold an iPhone mobile phone is also an original design not found in any researched projects.

More information can be found at here.