News

First year engineering students in Engineering Design 1 have been busy. They have been assigned the task of building a complex machine to do the simple task of marking and depositing a ballot.

Faculty of Engineering Professor, Holly Algra, shares that the idea for the first year student project was based on Rube Goldberg, an engineer turned cartoonist who created elaborate ways to accomplish simple tasks. “We also thought the project would be timely due to the election. Many of our first year students are 18 years old and this is their first opportunity to vote. Tying the election into the project was a fun way to expose them to voting and get them excited about the election.”

Holly continues, “Each lab group is split into two sets of teams, with each half making their own project. The Rube Goldberg machines will go through 24-32 steps, one for each student, to mark and deposit a ballot, but, in order for it to count, the marks must be valid according to Elections Canada regulations.”

In teams of three or four, the groups were given two weeks to complete the project.

The students were encouraged to explore themes for their machines, and to include as many different types of energy transfers as possible. As they were not provided with any materials, they had to get creative, coming up with their own ideas and begin resourceful through recycling. Students also learned the importance of communication and spatial considerations. Two very important skills needed to thrive as a professional engineer.

“I think it’s great to get the first year students involved in a project like this. It gets them exposed to various skills in a short amount of time. I know there were some frustrations at times throughout the project, but they had a lot of fun too. They created an elaborate machine to complete a simple task, which was the end goal of the project. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch.”