ME 250 final puts learning in motion
Teams of mechanical and industrial engineering students designed, built, and tested marble moving machines for their final project in the Introduction to Engineering Design and Graphics (ME 250) course at UIC.
The goal of the project was to keep a marble in motion for at least one minute and no longer than three minutes. The machines also needed to include a signal – like a buzzer or light – when it’s done. They also had to include at least one moving part and the marble could not pause longer than 5 seconds at any point while operating.
Each team was given a score based on the time the marble ran, durability, aesthetics, environmental impact, and cost. Students were encouraged to use their Arduino skills to incorporate motors and sensors into their designs.
“This project had a lot of creative solutions,” said Jamison Szwalek, clinical associate professor who teaches the course.
The students also were challenged to consider the size of the machine, material cost, and environmental impact.
“Our takeaway was to think outside the box. We could make it as tall as we want, wide, or small. It was open to any ideas,” student Nataly Lara said.
“The big takeaway was creating a design in CAD, building it, testing it, making modifications for improvement, and then getting it to perform predictably,” Szwalek said. “ME 250 introduces them to the design-test-build process and as engineers, we are never done improving.”