Another integral part of the Olin College experience, where I attended school for my Bachelors, was Principles of Engineering (POE). In this class, we did three 2-week projects (such as building a path-finding robot) followed by an eight week project. In the eight-week project, we are assigned to groups of five people and told we can create anything that has a significant mechanical, electrical and software component. The purpose of this exercise is to make us comfortable with a rapid design and prototyping process; during the eight weeks, we conduct our own research and teach ourselves the skills necessary to build what we’ve envisioned.

My group and I created battle robots who “fight” by playing laser-tag with each other, and who are controlled with voice commands.Our final product consisted of two of these robots. We designed them in CAD, and the whole mechanical part is 3D printed. The hardware consists of an Arduino, a motor system and a IR system. The hardware was accompanied by c code that controlled the Arduino. Additionally, we implemented the voice control with an Android app that used speech recognition. The app communicated to the Arduino using bluetooth.

More information about our project can be found on our website.