Principles and practices
/Project Management
- download, read, and sign the student agreement, and commit the file to your repo
- work through a git tutorial
- build a personal site in the class archive describing you and your final project
Computer Aided Design
- model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, ...) a possible final project,
- compress your images and videos,
- and post a description with your design files on your class page
Computer Controlled Cutting
group assignment:
- do your lab's safety training
- characterize your lasercutter's focus, power, speed, rate, kerf, joint clearance and types
individual assignment:
- cut something on the vinylcutter
- design, lasercut, and document a parametric construction kit, accounting for the lasercutter kerf
- extra credit: design it to be assembled in multiple ways
- extra credit: include elements that aren't flat
- extra credit: engrave as well as cut
Embedded programming
group assignment:
- demonstrate and compare the toolchains and development workflows
- for available embedded architectures
individual assignment:
- browse through the data sheet for a microcontroller
- write and test a program for an embedded system using a microcontroller to interact (with input &/or output devices) and communicate (with wired or wireless connections)
- extra credit: assemble the system
- extra credit: try different languages &/or development environments
3D scanning and printing
group assignment:
- test the design rules for your 3D printer(s)
individual assignment:
- design, document, and 3D print an object that could not be made subtractively (small, few cm3, limited by printer time)
- 3D scan an object (and optionally print it)
electronics design
group assignment:
- use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of an embedded microcontroller
individual assignment:
- simulate a circuit
- use an EDA tool to design an embedded microcontroller system using parts from the inventory, and check its design rules for fabrication
- extra credit: try another design workflow
- extra credit: design a case
Computer-Controlled Machining
group assignment:
- do your lab's safety training
- test runout, alignment, fixturing, speeds, feeds, materials, and toolpaths for your machine
individual assignment:
- make (design+mill+assemble) something big (~meter-scale)
- extra credit: don't use fasteners or glue
- extra credit: include curved surfaces
- extra credit: use three-axis toolpaths
Electronics Production
group assignment:
- characterize the design rules for your in-house PCB production process
- submit a PCB design to a board house
individual assignment:
- make and test an embedded microcontroller system that you designed
- extra credit: make it with another process
Input Devices
group assignment:
- probe an input device's analog levels and digital signals
individual assignment:
- measure something: add a sensor to a microcontroller board that you have designed and read it
Output Devices
group assignment:
- measure the power consumption of an output device
individual assignment:
- add an output device to a microcontroller board you've designed, and program it to do something
Networking and Communications
group assignment:
- send a message between two projects
individual assignment:
- design, build, and connect wired or wireless node(s) with network or bus addresses and local input &/or output device(s)
Mechanical Design
Machine Design
group assignment:
- design a machine that includes mechanism + actuation + automation + function + user interface
- build the mechanical parts and operate it manually
- document the group project and your individual contribution
Molding and Casting
group assignment:
- characterize the properties of your molding and casting materials
individual assignment:
- design and make a mold, and use it to cast parts
Interface and Application Programming
group assignment:
- characterize the input and output capabilities of your system
individual assignment:
- design and implement a human-machine interface, such as a custom controller, an interactive display, or a web-based application
System Integration
individual assignment:
- Design and document the system integration for your final project
Wildcard Week
individual assignment:
- Design and produce something with a digital process (incorporating computer-aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.
Applications and Implications
Project Development
individual assignment:
- Plan a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered, answering:
- Your project should incorporate 2D and 3D design,
- Where possible, you should make rather than buy
- Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual
What will it do?
Who's done what beforehand?
What sources will you use?
What will you design?
What materials and components will be used?
Where will come from?
How much will they cost?
What parts and systems will be made?
What processes will be used?
What questions need to be answered?
How will it be evaluated?
additive and subtractive fabrication processes,
electronics design and production,
embedded microcontroller design, interfacing, and programming,
system integration and packaging
the parts of your project
mastery of the skills, and be independently operable
Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income
individual assignment:
- Develop a plan for dissemination of your final project
- Complete your final project, tracking your progress:
what tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?
what's working? what's not?
what will happen when?
what have you learned?