Fall 2012: Project Proposal

Feel free to add your own ideas about what projects we should work on. To read about the preliminary project ideas we discussed at the August 24 meeting, read blog post August 24 Meeting: Preview, Part 2.

Project Criteria:

- Affordable (see below)

- Everyone can participate (ie., there are enough parts/tools for everyone to be working)

- Short time to setup and complete (see below)

Affordable:

We can request funds from the ASCSM. Funding requests in excess of $499 shall only be funded from 0 percent to 80 percent. Requests of $499 and under can be funded up to 100% at the Senate’s discretion. We can request more, but this will require fundraising, and if the project costs more than $499, it is probably beyond our scope of expertise and time.

Time to setup and complete:

Requesting money takes time. It takes approximately 2 or more weeks.

- The ASCSM ICC/Student Senate Proposal Form must be submitted at least 5 days before the ICC meeting (Wednesdays) it is to be voted on.

- If passed by the ICC, it must be submitted to the AS Senate meeting (Mondays).

To read more about club funding, go to page 11 of the Club Handbook.

To read the ASCSM ICC/Student Senate Proposal Form, go to the CSM website for Club Forms.


Here is the text from last year's proposal:

The CSM Engineering Club proposes building a model, magnetic levitation train. The project will consist of two halves: building and testing the mechanism for levitation and the mechanism for propulsion. The overall dimensions of the project will be relatively small with the mechanism for levitation consisting of a motor and a wheel no bigger than a bicycle’s and the mechanism for propulsion consisting of a metal rod no more than 3 to 4 inches wide and 4 to 5 feet long. The project will involve electricity and shop tools. Supervision will be provided by club sponsor Prof. Laura Demsetz, head of the CSM Engineering Department.

The work will be completed by the members of the CSM Engineering Club, including Co-Presidents R. and S., ICC Representative A., Treasurer D., and members J. and J. All work will be completed in room 19-042 during normal club meetings, Friday 1:10 to 2:00 pm. The project will occur from now until the club’s last meeting May 18. Additional work and discussions may occur outside these hours.

The project will benefit CSM students in that it will allow students to apply knowledge learned in physics courses (PHYS 250 Mechanics, PHYS 260 Electromagnetism) and engineering courses (ENGR 210 Graphics, ENGR 230 Statics), and to gain practical knowledge about engineering design and scientific research.

Arduino:
After the August 24 meeting, it appeared that most people were interested in the Arduino. The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board - it is like a small brain. It links to a computer through a USB cord which provides the board with power, programming code, and data capturing abilities. The board has several input and output pins capable of controlling devices and collecting sensory inputs.

Here is the board:

Here are the types of devices it can control: (Top Right to Left: photosensor, 7-segment LCD, pushbutton, LED, potentiometer, DC motor. Bottom Right to Left: piezo element, 1-line LCD, servo motor, temperature/magnetic/motion/touch/vibration/tilt sensors, 3-line LCD, wireless controller)

Project ideas are almost unlimited:

- toy cars

- game

- musical instrument

- catapult

- pinball machine

- data gathering device

More ideas and parts can be seen at Spark Fun and Oomlout.

Update: Here is the estimated cost of purchasing 6 Arduino sets and related parts. Since there are about 20 people in the club, we will work in groups of 3 or 4.
 

SparkFun	Quantity	Unit Price	Total
Trimpot 10K with Knob	24	$0.86	$20.64
Buzzer - PC Mount 12mm 2.048kHz	12	$1.76	$21.12
Momentary Push Button Switch - 12mm Square	36	$0.45	$16.20
Hobby Motor	12	$0.86	$10.32
Subtotal:			$68.28
Shipping and Handling:			$11.50
Total:			$79.78

Jameco	Quantity	Unit Price	Total
Arduino Uno- R3 SMD	6	$27.95	$167.70
Common BJT Transistors - NPN PN2222A	20	$0.06	$1.20
Servo - Small	12	$4.49	$53.88
Mini Photocell	12	$0.99	$11.88
Red Led	30	$0.12	$3.60
Green Led	30	$0.15	$4.50
Yellow Led	30	$0.15	$4.50
Subtotal:			$247.26
Sales Tax:			$20.41
Total:			$267.67

SaveOnCrafts	Quantity	Unit Price	Total
Surebonder High-Temp Mini Gun	6	$2.19	$13.14
Glue Sticks 1/4" (25)	12	$1.49	$15.46
Subtotal:			$28.62
Sales Tax:			$2.36
Shipping and Handling:			$8.64
Total:			$39.62

Fry's Electronics	Quantity	Unit Price	Total
USB Cable A to B - 6 Foot	6	$0.99	$5.94
Subtotal:			$5.94
Sales Tax:			$0.50
Total:			$6.44
Grand Total:			$393.51

I did not include any really "fancy" parts, so we can either spend the additional funds on another project or additional parts.

Here is the text from this year's proposal:

The CSM Engineering Club proposes constructing simple, electro-mechanical machines using the Arduino Uno microcontroller board. The microcontroller is like a small brain, capable of controlling electronic devices such as motors and lights, and collecting sensory inputs from pushbuttons and switches. The club wishes to purchase six (6) sets of parts. Each set will include an Arduino Uno, electronic parts listed in the table of expenses, glue gun and glue sticks. The project will involve low-voltages (5V) and small moving parts (dc motors). No power tools or heavy equipment will be used. Completed machines will be approximately 1 foot by 1 foot. The machines will be used to demonstrate members’ creativity and understanding of engineering principles.

The work will be completed by the members of the CSM Engineering Club, including Co-Presidents Daniel and Jon. Supervision will be provided by club sponsor Prof. Laura Demsetz, head of the CSM Engineering Department. Work will be completed in room 19-042 during normal club meetings, Friday 1:00 to 2:00 pm. Additional work may also be completed in another room in building 19 which is yet to be decided. (An Activities Request Form has already been submitted for this additional room.) The project will occur from now until the club’s last meeting Dec 7.

The project will benefit CSM students in that it will allow students to apply knowledge learned in physics courses (PHYS 250 Mechanics, PHYS 260 Electromagnetism), engineering courses (ENGR 210 Graphics, ENGR 260 Circuits), and programming courses (CIS 254 Intro to Programming, CIS 278 C++), and to gain practical knowledge about engineering design and scientific research.

The proposal was approved and funded to the amount of $500 by the CSM Student Senate on Monday, September 24, 2012.