Capaciflectors, proximity sensors and retro-rockets might not take them back to the future, but some MSU students are finding they can lead to future careers.
Students in the electrical and computer engineering senior design class will show off projects ranging from self-controlled robots to a new style of Mars rover during the annual Design Day, which starts at 9 a.m. today in the International Center.
About 10 companies submitted project outlines for the students to design and build.
Erik Goodman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, helped organize Design Day and said the event also gave the companies, which were sponsoring the groups, a chance to see the students' work and get a sense of their abilities before making hiring decisions.
"Companies do hire MSU students, and this is a great way for them to meet," Goodman said.
Many students, such as electrical engineering senior Austin Matero, worked on their projects all semester.
Matero said he was ready to get his project rolling.
"It's a lot of work, but we learned a lot as well," Matero said of working on a guidance system for a moon-roving robot in 24-hour shifts for the last week.
He said what makes this robot different is how it finds its way around.
The group has been putting a capaciflector system on the machine, which will use an electrical field surrounding the robot to move around obstacles. The machine senses objects in its path as changes in the electrical field and moves to avoid them.
"It's a true autonomous system," Matero said. "This will allow devices to travel on other planets without any human interaction."
The project is sponsored by NASA, which will use the students' findings to further its own research. As project manager of the team, Matero said the best thing about the project was the challenge.
"I love to tackle extremely complex problems no one wants to deal with," Matero said.
The group's capaciflector is one component of a robot being modified by several groups in the class. The sensor Matero's group is working on will help navigate the robot, which will carry another group's robot arm during the Design Day activities.
Brad Johnson, an electrical engineering senior, is working with a team to develop the robotic arm that will perform its operations autonomously. He said the arm is a model for a device NASA wants to use to connect retro-rockets to the Hubble Telescope.
"Since the Colombia disaster, they're a little leery about sending people into space," Johnson said. "This device will connect rockets to the telescope by itself so NASA can bring it safely back to Earth."
Johnson said the course gave him a chance to work with a group of students with a diverse academic background.
"There is software and hardware problems involved in every area of this project," Johnson said. "We have electrical engineers, computer engineers and mechanical engineers all helping to put this together."
He said the class also helped him understand the realities of the work environment he was preparing for, although he admitted it had been a lot of work.
"It's insanity," Johnson said. "I can't count how many hours I've spent on this thing. It throws you into the real world."
Goodman said it does model professional experiences.
"It's like the real world," he said, adding that it was important to give the students a deadline. "If it doesn't work on Design Day, it doesn't work."
