Ohio State Marion team places first in College of Engineering design competition

A team of three entrepreneurial students from Ohio State Marion’s Engineering 1182 – Fundamentals of Engineering II course, taught by Assistant Professor of Practice in Integrated System Engineering Chandika Annasiwatta, took first place in the Fundamentals of Engineering Design Showcase held on Dec. 6 in the Physics Research Building on Columbus campus.

The annual competition included over 150 students from over 45 teams in four courses from across the university. The Ohio State Marion team included students civil engineering major Christopher Beaver, CAD exterior designer and project manager; computer science engineering major Othon De Assis, CAD interior designer and product manufacturer; and science and technology exploration Richard Lipp, software developer and quality control.

The team was nominated from Ohio State Marion engineering 1182 autumn semester course.

Student teams completed a semester-long, open-ended and user-centered design project. Each team was challenged to identify, research and fully define a unique opportunity to create value and an associated engineering problem to solve.

Teams then designed a solution to address the identified opportunity and build and test a prototype of their design using a variety of resources including SolidWorks, MATLAB, Arduino microcontrollers, machine shop tools, 3D printing, laser cutting, and more. Students were asked to carefully consider user needs, design constraints and stakeholder interests throughout their project.

The winning project the group designed was an original idea from the students. It was a digital device to assist individuals in forming better habits called PUSH. The Ohio State Marion team goal for the project was to develop a product to assist those with a lack of motivation and trouble staying on task, such as those diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, college students, the typical 9-to-5 worker, retirees or anyone wanting to better themselves.

According to the team member presentation overview, the possible user base has only expanded from the beginning as they discovered more people who could benefit from the device.

According to the team’s course instructor and faculty adviser, engineering 1182 perfectly prepared the students for the competition.

“The idea of engineering 1182 is that students apply engineering mindset design for a design project and create value,” Chandika Annasiwatta said.

“During the entire process, the students focused on getting feedback and making the design piece that not only solves the problem but would be desirable in its uses,” he added. “As a group the students went above and beyond to complete the design and build a prototype that they visioned applying the engineering mindset design.”

Annasiwatta said the idea was to design a project that could be marketed and sold to solve a challenge. At the end of the project, they presented a prototype to mock potential investors that would lead them to the next step in manufacturing and marketing.

The presentation is meant to emulate an actual product going to market, he added.

Engineering 1182 is part Ohio State’s first-year engineering program, as well as the engineering technology major offered only at Ohio State Marion and Ohio State’s other regional campuses.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Ohio State Marion students take first in engineering competition