Intelligent toys and fuzzy robots: capstone design projects for ece students

The use of robotics as a learning tool in the areas of electrical and computer engineering is increasing for a variety of reasons, including stimulating interest in engineering and exposing students to team learning experiences. This paper describes the academic experiences obtained during the past three years in our design workshop course offered in the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). To make the workshop more interesting for the students, during the last three years we have selected mobile robots, fuzzy robots, and intelligent toys, as the topics for the workshop. We have found that by offering these challenging topics students show more interest in participating in the workshop, and develop a competitive spirit that make the overall participation more enjoyable and the final products more successful