Capstone

Capstone satisfies the ABET mandated Major Design Experience for Electrical and Computer Engineering students. It is one semester in duration and requires student teams to take a project from concept to "alpha-stage" prototype which is a very realistic industrial design cycle for the types of products that fall within the scope of this course. The final presentation and demo during a Capstone Fair at the end of the semester is well-attended by alumni, current students, and faculty. 

Capstone addresses the following "big picture" goals through a number of specific learning objectives. At the conclusion of this course students should be able to:

• take a broadly-defined project, self selected and design, build, and test a solution that meets performance objectives.
• work effectively in teams and learn project organization.
• develop test plans and develop techniques for effective debugging.
• experience the joys and frustrations of developing a project.
• give effective presentations.
• write an engineering report that details their design solution, testing results, assembly techniques, constraints, engineering standards, and societal implications of their work.

Assessments will be based on class presentations, working project demonstrations, proposal and final report, and participation in in-class activities.

The Capstone Design Project represents the culminating engineering design experience of the undergraduate curriculum. We welcome companies to advise a student group! Students benefit greatly from interaction with industry professionals and exposure to real-world projects and constraints and companies like the low-stakes opportunity to engage with our students. 

To advise a group, companies will need to:

• Propose a problem for the students to work on or a project area that you would want to advise. Projects should center on an open-ended problem that requires students to design, evaluate, and justify a solution. The Capstone project is primarily an educational instrument and must satisfy accreditation requirements in its implementation. This is an open-ended learning experience and not a contractual obligation to produce a product.
• Identify an advisor that can:
  • meet with the Capstone team on a weekly basis for the semester (late August through mid-December OR mid-January through early May). The anticipated time commitment is approximately 30 minutes to one hour per week for team meetings, totaling roughly 12 weeks, in addition to an estimated 5 hours over the course of the semester to review and provide feedback on project deliverables.
  • provide technical insight, real-world context, and general mentorship throughout the design process. 
  • Help foster student learning, creativity, and problem-solving.
• In cases where the proposed project requires resources beyond the department-provided budget of $800, companies are encouraged to support the team through the provision or loan of equipment, materials, or other necessary resources, as appropriate.

Capstone projects result in the development of a functional prototype that typically involves embedded system design, a microcontroller, and a custom-designed printed circuit board. See above for examples of past capstone projects. 

To propose a project, contact any of the faculty members listed at the bottom of this webpage. We are happy to meet with you to discuss possible projects and logistics.  

There's a wide range of possibilities! 

Students, companies, or external advisors are welcome to propose something you want for fun for yourself or for your business. The Capstone students usually build something that has a hardware and software component. The hardware component lets the device interact with the world (examples: microphone, speakers, button, pressure sensor, proximity sensor, IR, lights, motors) and the software component acts as the brain. Some past projects that illustrate a range of possibilities:

• A lock box where you have to tap the sides of the box in the right pattern/order to open the box. 
• “Simon says” xylophone that plays a series of notes and gives the user feedback on if they followed the pattern correctly. 
• Pong game where the paddle motion up/down is controlled by you humming a tone and making the tone higher/lower in pitch. 
• Garden watch apparatus that measures soil water level and reports trends to an app. 
• Personalized game for a child with a disability to measure progress on movement as they tried to press buttons and to allow for more user control over light and sound functions than most toys permit. 

Capstone groups have a limited budget and a lot of it goes to prototype costs. If you’d estimate a final product would cost $100 or less if it were commercialized, it might be a good fit. Physically large products tend to run into cost issues much faster.