Robotic Maze, Olivia Gustafson

Cornell University
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
M.Eng Poster Session
May 5, 2015

Robotic Maze
Olivia Gustafson, ECE M.Eng '15

Winner, Computer Systems & Third Prize Overall

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department's junior-level design course made it a goal to revamp the course's project. The goal of this design project is to create and set up a course project (CP) that draws upon skills from the three sophomore-level core courses (analog circuits, signal processing, and digital logic) and organize the CP so that it has appropriate difficulty for junior students. Secondary goals are for the CP to have a heavy teamwork component as well as an impressive demo. The chosen CP topic is a robotic maze-mapping scenario, where a robot is let loose in a maze and wanders around to create a cohesive map of the entire area.

In this design project, the CP will be embellished and fleshed out to have a complete prototype to serve as a demo and example for the class in the Spring. The CP will also be organized in such a way so that the CP has appropriate difficulty and interest level to the students. Design choices and responses of the students taking the course in the spring will be used to create an overall picture of the results of this design project. At the end of this design project, the junior-level design course will have an interesting CP with an appropriate level of challenge and teamwork. Having a more interesting and breadth-oriented CP will create better managers, project organizers, and team members of the students who take the course.