Entrepreneurial Engineering Training in a Freshman Design Course

Abstract

University of Detroit Mercy requires three co-op placements as part of the engineering curricula. Recent changes have it such that students are now required to have their first placement at the end of freshman year. This, in turn, requires that they possess higher levels of marketable skills in order to secure placement. This paper describes the second of a two-course freshman engineering sequence that enables the students to build a significant portfolio of projects and skills. The course is centered on a recent technology (Sphero robotic ball in Winter 2014) where the students are tasked with analyzing the system and associated intellectual property. They are then tasked with proposing ventures in other markets using said technology and to do so in business terms. The pilot offering of the course has led to three credible, student owned initiatives to use the Sphero technology to create an autonomous sterilizing robot and a smart cane for the visually disabled.