2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work-in-progress paper describes the first implementation of a failure analysis component added to an existing first-year cornerstone course. The first-year engineering program at University X provides honors students with the opportunity to engage in an intensive design-and-build robotics project. The primary educational objective of this course is to give students a realistic engineering experience, so that at the end of their first year, they can make educated decisions about whether engineering is the profession they want for themselves, and, if so, what particular engineering discipline they want as a major. To that end, the project includes many aspects of real-world engineering, including teamwork, budgeting, planning a project schedule, communicating orally and in writing, documenting, programming a microcontroller, constructing and wiring a device, and, of course, designing, testing, and refining of a product.

The robot project was first conceived over two decades ago, and it continues to evolve both technically and pedagogically. In the spring of 2017, one refinement was adding a failure analysis component to the course. It has always been part of the course that teams are required to participate in performance tests at several points during the term to determine whether their product is progressing according to schedule and executing as intended. The additional element required any team that scored fifty percent or less on a performance test to engage in a post-performance test analysis. They were to identify the causes for why the robot did not achieve the goals of the test, along with likely strategies for remedying the problems identified. They had the option of submitting the analysis either as a short video or a one-to-two page report.

In the first semester of this requirement, there were four performance tests, and about half of the participating teams engaged in one or more failure analyses. The majority chose the written submission option. This paper describes the common causes students identified for their failures, as well as the range of solutions they proposed for fixing them. Additionally, a question on the course-end survey solicited feedback from the students regarding the educational value of the post-performance test failure analysis. Student responses were mixed, but have suggested refinements to the assignment that will be implemented in the next offering of the course.