Project Description: Design and build an embedded system that would convince engineering freshman to pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering
Solution: Base the project on one of the most popular college activities
The popularity of Beer Pong is apparent when you visit almost any college campus on a Friday or Saturday night. Beer Pong is the staple of any college party and has become a part of college culture. The object of the game is to throw ping pong balls into the opposing team’s cups on the opposite side of the table.
My teammate and I knew that a project based on the game would draw interest. What we did not realize is the amount of enthusiasm it would generate. Students and Graduate Instructors from around the Electrical Engineering department, most of whom we had never met, were visiting our lab to help test and give their input.
This project was a huge eye-opener for me educationally. The fact that students would take such an enthusiastic interest in a technically difficult class in which they were not enrolled says a lot about the education system as it is today and what it could be, if only creativity and freedom to play were given more value in a University atmosphere. I will never forget the magic of watching students testing in the lab because they wanted to and not because they had to. Theories learned in previous semesters were finally put to the test in hands-on student experiments, and theories which had not yet been covered were learned on a “need to know” basis rather than the usual “perhaps you will encounter this problem in your career at some point” manner.
The professors made various sensors available to us, but we chose to design and build our own custom sensors in order to achieve functionality that would remain true to the game. In fact, it is arguable that student enthusiasm made the project more difficult, as certain helpful suggestions from professors were opposed by students who knew that they would hinder aspects of gameplay. Enhanced Beer Pong was a huge success and is still used as an example for future students who will begin their own semester projects. It is considered to be one of the most innovative projects in the history of the course.