Developing and Improving a Multi-Element First-Year Engineering Cornerstone Autonomous Robotics Design Project.

For the past 23 years, The Ohio State University's College of Engineering has offered to firstyear engineering honors students the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors (FEH) program. In that time, The Ohio State University has worked to incorporate and develop best practices for student development in engineering. With student immersion and growth in mind, the program has developed to include an engineering cornerstone project in which students work in teams to design, build, and program autonomous robots to complete tasks on an interactive robotics course. In support of the project, a variety of technologies were designed and polished as the program grew. Classroom methodologies were also evaluated and improved with time in response to student feedback and research on best practices. This paper provides a historical review of practice for the program with an emphasis on the technologies and methodologies that have been most effective in the program as it has developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]