Introduction to Engineering Design: Engineering Skills and Rover Missions

The book contains 20 chapters that cover many of the topics that first year engineering students should begin to understand. To facilitate referencing the various chapters we have divided the textbook into three parts: Part I covers Design, Build and Drive a Rover. It includes seven chapters that contains most of the technical content required for the students to design, build and drive their rovers under RC control during the fall quarter. We have included Chapter 2 on Development Teams because student design teams often have difficulty functioning smoothly. In addition to the mission oriented content, we have added Chapter 7 on 3D Printing.

Part II is titled Design, Build an Autonomous Rover. It contains the content for the winter quarter, during which the students are formed into

teams of four students who design, build and autonomously drive their Rover on a specified mission. Part II contains four chapters that provide the content that the students can reference as they complete their assignment.

Finally Part III is titled Engineering Skills. It includes nine chapters that contain content often covered in more traditional Introduction to Engineering courses. We recommend that students refer to these chapters, as they consider a career in Engineering. Of particular importance is Chapter 13 titled A Student Survival Guide, which provides a systematic approach to successfully completing your engineering studies. We also strongly recommend that you read Chapter 18 on Engineering Ethics and Design, which is focused on issues that arise in engineering. Finally, Chapter 20 provides a brief description of the interface between Engineering and Society.