Engphys Project Lab
Project Lab Courses
Phys 253: Introduction to Instrument Design.
Each year all 2nd year Engineering Physics students spend six weeks in a series of labs and lectures to learn some basic elements of electromechanical design, and then form teams of four to embark on seven weeks of full-time robot design and construction. Time commitment during this phase is at the students’ discretion but often reaches 50 – 70 hrs/week. The course culminates in a publicly attended robot competition that also serves as the final exam. Past competitions have included one-on-one hockey, volleyball, and search and rescue challenges
APSC 459 / APSC 479 - Engineering Projects I and II
In APSC 459/479, small groups of students with academic interests in electronics, mechanics and computer science work together on a broad spectrum of projects. The objective is to present the students with “real world” problems where the solution is influenced by constraints such as time, money, basic knowledge, and manpower as well as the complex requirements of society. Students will learn how to judge what factors are important and how to get the best answers with limited resources.
For Students…
The objective of the Project Laboratory is to provide senior Engineering Physics students with challenging and industrially relevant design projects. The Project Lab presents students with broad, multidisciplinary “real world” problems where the solutions are influenced by available time, money, state of knowledge, manpower, and client/societal needs. We expect that at the completion of this program students will have learned to:
- organize and plan project work, with emphasis on time management
- deal with pre-established project milestones
- solve complex problems, applying good judgment and ethics and meeting challenges in engineering design
- develop their creativity and resourcefulness
- work effectively in a team and function as a member of a project group
- communicate effectively, both verbally and in the project final report
- meet time and funding requirements while satisfying the sponsor
- learn how to keep and use a working logbook
For Sponsors…
The objective of the Project Laboratory is to provide a mutually beneficial educational partnership with local industry and faculty members, and a continuing commitment to the entrepreneurial spirit. Based on a solid foundation of previous successes, the Project Laboratory can provide the following benefits to industrial project sponsors:
- New ideas can be evaluated with an unbiased viewpoint thus avoiding premature commitment of company resources
- New resources and new insights to problems are available to help bring projects to commercial reality
- The opportunity exists to evaluate prospective employees.
Contacts:
Jon Nakane | jnakane “at” physics.ubc.ca | 604.822.2110 | Hennings 115
Bernhard Zender | bzender “at” physics.ubc.ca | 604.822.2961 | Hennings 115