To be successful in any industry requires a keen awareness of the commercial landscape in which you operate. Electronic engineering is no different; in this module you and your team will undertake the research and design work required for the completion of a hands-on design and build project that challenges you to develop, prototype and explore the market for a solution to an Electronic engineering challenge. This project emphasis the combination of commercial awareness and the application of sound engineering knowledge. You will have creative freedom and be encouraged to develop innovative engineering solutions to real-world problems and market opportunities.
This project will put you and your team in the enviable position of having the time and resources to deploy your creativity and engineering knowledge towards a commercial opportunity. Through this group project you will use and develop further your skills in electronic engineering design through a project based learning approach. Within this module, you will design an electronic system for human-robot interactions with main applications in space explorations. Human-robot interaction plays an important role in future planetary exploration mission, where astronauts with extravehicular activities will need to control robot assistants, such as exploration drones or rovers using gesture-type user interfaces embedded in their space suits. The module will focus on researching and designing an interactive astronaut smart glove system for the astronaut to use hand gestures to control robot assistants. The electronic system that you will design will also have applications in other fields beyond space exploration, such as haptic feedback for virtual and augmented reality applications or healthcare. For example, in healthcare, it could be used in rehabilitation, helping patients recover mental and physical abilities lost due to injuries. The project brief will provide sufficient flexibility for different approaches and solutions.
Technically, the aim of this group project is to broaden your electronic design and research skills, and harness your well-developed analytical abilities and previous knowledge to facilitate the design process for an electronic system for human-robot interactions. This module also aims to continue to expose students to working in groups. The project based approach provides the opportunity to gain further understanding of electronic design not developed through lectures alone, with time to reflect on learning and problem solving approaches. The module structure and assessment is designed to develop confidence and motivation in the research and design abilities that comes from making systems which work.
This project will not only focus on technical challenge, of equal importance is identifying a viable commercial opportunity and strategy to capitalise on it. This project aims to broaden your appreciation for the commercial realities that all engineering activities must face. It’s no good creating a world beating solution that nobody wants to pay for! In this project you will need to deploy more than technical engineering knowledge.
The knowledge and skills developed in this group project provide further preparation for placement and work in industry.
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILOs) (see assessment section below for how ILOs will be assessed)
On successful completion of this module you should be able to:
This module contributes to learning outcomes AHEP3 ILOs: EA3m–EA6m, D1m, D2m, D4m-D8m, ET2m-ET7m, EP1m, EP2m, EP8m-EP11m, G1m, G3m & G4m
Module/Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge: EA3m–EA6m; D1m, D2m, D4m-D8m, ET2m-ET7m, EP1m, EP2m, EP8m-EP10m
ILO 1. Understand the engineering design process, materials and methods to facilitate the development of solutions for an interactive astronaut smart glove system.
ILO 2. Develop knowledge and understanding of the general structure and concepts of electronic systems for human-robot interactions.
ILO 3. Appreciate alternative approaches to the practical implementation of such systems.
ILO 4. Apply knowledge of the behaviour of components or sub-systems in other modules (such as OPAMPs, microcontrollers, wireless communications networks) to the analysis and design of analogue and digital electronic circuits.
ILO 5. Understand the function and use of a wide range of important analogue and digital components and circuits such triboelectric nanogenerators, gesture sensors, amplifiers, comparators,
ILO 6. Convert system specifications into practical electronic designs taking into account the sometimes conflicting requirements of system complexity, cost, sustainability and compliance to specification.
ILO 7. Demonstrate enhanced skills for the use of computational tools for the design of electronic circuits, including circuit simulators and printed circuit board design software;
ILO 8. Demonstrate ability to extract and evaluate pertinent data and to apply engineering analysis techniques in the solution of unfamiliar problems
ILO 9. Communicate the work to technical and non- technical audiences and have the ability to present ideas effectively
Transferable skills: ET3m, ET5m, G1m, G3m & G4m, EP11m
ILO 9. Demonstrated enhanced skills in working as part of a team to apply technical that leads to project completion in line with a set brief, and assess your own and others skills, progress and performances.
ILO 10. Show enhanced independent study skills and personal skills such as time management.
SYLLABUS PLAN - summary of the structure and academic content of the module