The first year of the ANU Extension, Discovering Engineering program, has come to a close with a public showcase of the student’s hard work.
Students, friends, family and teachers gathered at the showcase on Tuesday to view the final examination of the student projects, testing their robotic cars.
Based on ‘Discovering Engineering’ a first year course offered by the Research School of Electrical, Energy and Materials Engineering, the ANU Extension program included a mix of introductory sessions, guest lectures, workshops and tutorials. The main body of work however, was building a remote control car.
The cars combine a variety of engineering disciplines including mechanical and materials, electronics, mechatronics and control. The students assembled their cars after using a 3D printer to produce all the associated parts.
The students were required to control their robotic car, guiding it through a maze via a smartphone app.
Coordinator, Jeremy Smith, says the aim of the class is to provide students with the opportunity to experience engineering, especially those from colleges that don’t offer engineering studies as a subject.
“This means we can allow students to experience our program and hopefully inspire and interest them enough to study engineering here at ANU.”
Alex Maleganeas, a year 12 Canberra Grammar student, said enjoyed the course, despite not knowing what he was in for at first.
“It was really good. I liked how the course explored the variety of engineering disciplines, and how they all worked together to help build our robotic cars.”
This is the first year the engineering course has been offered as part of ANU Extension, and a total 17 students enrolled in the class, from colleges across Canberra.
Students who successfully completed their studies in ANU Extension are now able to articulate into an ANU bachelor degree program and receive credit towards the Bachelor of Engineering.