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A previous teaching grant from the National Fluid Power Association provided senior mechanical engineering students a project to design and fabricate a fluid-powered gantry crane. During fabrication, assembly, and testing of the fluid-powered gantry crane, a number of areas for improvement of the student design were identified. Among these were the inclusion of a control system to limit load swing, redesign of the fluid distribution system, redesign to reduce binding between the trolley and crossbar, and heat sink design for cooling of the electrical system. Rather than fixing the deficiencies with a second senior design project, problem-based learning (PBL) exercises were developed to introduce more students to fluid power using the existing gantry crane. The PBL modules were implemented in junior and senior Mechanical Engineering courses including Mechatronics, Fluid Mechanics, and Heat Transfer. After the PBL activities, direct assessment with a common rubric was used to evaluate the quality of problem solutions and student surveys were used to qualitatively assess the effectiveness of the PBL experience. The assessment results indicate that the PBL activities contributed to student learning both on concepts introduced in class and on problem solving skills which required synthesis of material from class.

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Building on previous work to implement problem-based learning, a mechatronic design course was recast as a semester-long activity culminating in the collaborative design and fabrication of an autonomous vehicle. Students were provided a realistic design scenario early in the course, with subsequent lecture and laboratory activities tying directly to the proposed problem. Following the submission of student design work, and demonstration of their mechatronic devices, student learning outcomes were assessed both indirectly and directly. Indirect assessment implied both the course content and collaborative design project contributed to student learning. Direct assessment of student designs showed improvement from previous semesters.