Tour Guide Robots: An Integrated Research and Design Platform to Prepare Engineering and Technology Students

Abstract

Many interesting research and design questions occur at the intersections of traditional disciplines, yet most coursework and research programs for undergraduate engineering students are focused on one discipline. This leads to under-utilization of the potential in better preparing students through multidisciplinary projects. Identifying this opportunity to better prepare the engineering and technology students, this paper presents a multidisciplinary integrated research and design platform on tour guide robots. Through integration of electrical hardware, mechanical systems, design manufacture, and complex programming, the proposed work serves as an ideal platform through which students will be able to study a complex and integrated engineering system. Preliminary implementation of the proposed platform has led to numerous undergraduate research projects, capstone senior design projects, course improvements, publications in peer-reviewed conferences, and best student paper awards.