Senior Design

Senior Capstone Design is one of the most important courses in the four-year curriculum. Students work beyond the traditional classroom setting to apply technical knowledge to actual engineering problems.

Teams are graded on their requirements analyses, feasibility studies, financial analyses, system designs, engineering drawings, prototype hardware, computer programs, presentations, demonstrations and reports. The experience helps students bridge the gap between their academic and professional careers by exposing them to realistic design processes, teamwork and expectations of practicing engineers.

Teams meet periodically with their client to review designs and provide written and oral progress reports. At the end of each semester, teams give a final presentation and write a design report. Evaluation is based on individual and team performance.

A number of ME students are part of interdisciplinary projects with the BME and ECE departments.

Senior Capstone Design provides these development facilities for the project teams.

Projects Lab (LN-G111)
Tech Lab (EB-A4)
Vehicle Lab (EB-A3)
Electric Vehicle Lab (EB-D1)
Special Projects Lab (EB-A8)

The Projects Lab has a diverse array of benchtop equipment, which is assigned to individual teams as needed. The Tech Lab has a 3D digitizer, two 3-D printers, and several surface-mount technology soldering systems. The Vehicle Lab has innumerable automotive tools, including a TIG welder, and is home to the SAE Supermileage and MiniBaja project teams. The electric vehicle lab is home to the SAE Formula Electric vehicle. The Special Projects Lab is used for larger projects that will not fit into the Projects Lab.

2026/2027 Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Projects

SDP101 — Smart Microrobot Arena: AI-Powered Magnetic & Electric Particle Manipulation Platform

Imagine controlling microscopic robots without ever touching them. Researchers around the world use magnetic and electric fields to manipulate tiny particles and microrobots for applications ranging from targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive surgery to advanced manufacturing and environmental monitoring.

In this project, the team will design and build a Smart Microrobot Arena -- a portable experimental platform that allows users to control and visualize the motion of magnetic or electrically charged microparticles using programmable electromagnetic fields. The system will integrate electromagnetics, electronics, embedded systems, computer vision, robotics, and AI into a single interactive platform suitable for education, outreach, and research.

The completed system will serve as both a research testbed and an engaging demonstration platform for K-12 outreach events, engineering education, and undergraduate laboratories.
SDP102 — Brain-controlled Drone

Develop a brain–machine system that enables a user to control a drone using biopotential signals from the brain. Through this interdisciplinary project, students will gain foundational knowledge and hands-on experience in brain–machine interfaces, neurophysiological measurement, signal processing, motion control and tracking, and machine learning. Students will build on the successful senior design project completed last year: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7474839980033515520.
SDP103 — A Horizontal Bridgman Crystal Growth Furnace

Indium Antimonide (InSb) has been historically grown as poly or single crystals for a variety of electro-optical applications, including infrared windows, Hall sensors, and magnetoresistor devices. This project will refurbish a horizontal Bridgman Crystal Growth Furnace with BAE to grow InSb crystals with NiSb needles for magnetoresistance applications.
SDP104 — AeroBing - Composite Rocket Fin Manufacturing Device
AeroBing designs high-power rocketry components from advanced composites. Manufacturing these parts creates challenges that neither AeroBing nor Watson Fabrication Laboratory possess an optimal solution for. This project will develop a device for accurate and safe production in-house to reduce lead time and cost and expand AeroBing’s manufacturing and prototyping capabilities.
SDP105 — Robotic Theatrical Costume Design
The fabrication of a wearable moving costume for the character Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including moving fairy wings and a dress with a skirt that moves on its own.
SDP106 — FSAE Pneumatic Paddle Shifter
The intent of this project is to develop and manufacture a pneumatic based shifting mechanism that is controlled by the driver of a Formula SAE vehicle produced by 91�� Motorsports. Allowing for reliable and and rapid paddle actuated gear changes while in motion
SDP107 — Formula SAE Carbon Fiber Intake Manifold and Exhaust System Development
Design, optimize, and manufacture a carbon fiber intake manifold and exhaust system for the Formula SAE vehicle. Using CAD, CFD, FEA, and resin infusion manufacturing, the project will improve airflow, reduce system weight, and validate structural performance through simulation and prototype testing.
SDP108 — AeroBing - Laminate Manufacturing System
AeroBing develops advanced composite structures for high-power rocketry. This project will design and build a composite curing system capable of elevated-temperature processing, enabling stronger, lower-void laminates, compatibility with advanced resin systems, and the manufacture of large aerospace composite structures.
SDP109 — AeroBing - Composite Curing System
Students will learn the working principles of AI computer vision algorithms and a Gem stone bead sorting machine, then apply them to the integration of these functionalities to build a working prototype.
SDP110 — FSAE Nosecone
The Nosecone is the largest and most time-consuming component to manufacture of the FSAE Aerodynamic kit. It covers the area from the tip of the car to the firewall. It is a fully carbon component that is fastened to the frame.
SDP111 — Seeing the Invisible: Revealing Hidden Fluid Dynamics
Develop a low-cost experimental platform to visualize invisible fluid motion using advanced imaging techniques. Students will build flow visualization systems based on particle image velocimetry and schlieren imaging to investigate applications ranging from bio-inspired robotic swimming to human airflow, connecting fluid mechanics, instrumentation, and data analysis.
SDP112 — AeroBing - Filament Winder Improvements
The filament winder has been a revolutionary tool when creating the main airframe of the rocket, allowing for optimization between weight and strength. With this there have been multiple areas where this tool could be vastly improved mainly in the rigidity and filament head of the machine. This project would focus on these areas to improve the overall efficiency and accuracy of the machine allowing for more complex geometries to be made.
SDP113 — Automated Desktop CNC Router for Student Use
This project involves the design, analysis, and manufacturing of a compact CNC router capable of automated 2D and 3D machining programs. This device should be capable, of consistently machining a variety of woods, plastics, and other similar materials without losing functionality over time through wear and material yielding. This systems design will prioritize safety, intuitive use, reliability, and accuracy ensuring accessibility to aspiring machinists. The point of this project is to create a small CNC machine that students can use to learn toolpath generation and basic machining procedures as the Tormach and other shop equipment are currently accessible only to shop techs.
SDP114 — CNC Tube Notcher
Design and create a tube notcher that would take a 3d file and cut the profile into the end of a steel tube for use on fsae and Baja chassis
SDP115 — Hydraulic Seat Restraint System Design

Design, build, and validate a full-scale hydraulic seat restraint prototype for a single rider. The system will incorporate hydraulics, redundant locking, operator controls, and testing to demonstrate compliance with applicable ASTM F2291-25c requirements.
SDP116 — Augmented Reality Helmet System

The Augmented Reality Helmet System (ARHS) is a wearable mixed-reality interface that enhances flight simulation by combining an augmented reality heads-up display, low-latency head tracking, and integrated spatial audio into a single ergonomic helmet. The project brings together mechanical design, embedded electronics, sensor fusion, and software engineering to develop a modular platform for immersive pilot training, human-machine interface research, and future aerospace simulation technologies.
SDP117 — Laboratory Pick and Place Robot

The project shall design and fabricate a pick and place robot for a novel laboratory apparatus. The robot shall pick up a heavy motor assembly from a horizontal cradle on an optical bench, rotate it to a vertical orientation and place it accurately in a mating housing. It shall also be capable of the inverse operation.
SDP118 — Mechanical cell stretcher system

The group has to design a Mechanical cell stretcher system that would strain a polymer sheet at various strain levels bidirectionally. They should develop a system to control the stretch in both directions. They should use this system to test fatigue of different polymer sheets such as PDMS, TPU etc.
SDP119 — Microaerophilic chamber for microfluidics

The group has to design a microaerophilic chamber which should house dual chamber microfluidic devices. It should be able to maintain the media dissolved oxygen concentration differently in the two chambers. The chamber will be used to mimic in vivo oxygen environment of the small intestine of humans. They should develop a sensor system to measure the dissolved oxygen in both the chambers.
SDP120 — Redesign of a Parallel Plate Shear Chamber for Leak-Free, Galling-Resistant Operation and Improved Substrate Mounting

Design and fabricate an all-metal parallel plate shear chamber used to generate micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs). The design may leverage principles from a prior iteration, but shall eliminate fluid leakage, resolve thread galling between stainless steel components, improve securing of polymer substrates of varying thickness, and simplify assembly. Drive motor provided.
SDP121 — Autonomous Temperature Control System for a Parallel Plate Shear Chamber

Design and implement an autonomous temperature sensing and control system for the fluid within an existing parallel plate shear chamber used to generate micro- and nanoplastics. The project shall include thermal FEA of heat removal.
SDP122 — A 3-axis substrate dynamic positioning system with real-time microscopy for inkjet printing

The project requires the design of a 3-axis substrate dynamic positioning system for a research inkjet printing platform with the capability of recording real-time microscopic imaging of the printed line. The system will be capable of creating a pre-programmed complex printed pattern on flat glass and plastic substrates by moving the substrate relative to the fixed inkjet printhead.
SDP123 — Measurement of Liquid-liquid Interfacial Energy Using Maximum Droplet Pressure Method

This project will use a custom-built Maximum Droplet Pressure Apparatus to measure liquid-liquid interfacial energy between liquid metals and surrounding mediums such as Glycerol, PDMS, and molten glass.
SDP124 — Dynamic Self-Balancing of a Rotating Disk Using Free-Moving Masses

This project aims to design and demonstrate a passive dynamic balancing system for a rotating shaft–disk assembly. A circular disk with a diameter of 10 inches will be mounted on a shaft supported by bearings at both ends. A controlled imbalance will be introduced by adding a removable mass at a specific location on the disk surface, creating an eccentricity similar to that encountered in rotating machinery.

To mitigate the imbalance, students will design and manufacture grooves or channels on the disk surface that allow small beads to move freely along the rotating disk. During operation, centrifugal forces will cause the beads to redistribute themselves and migrate to positions that counteract the imposed imbalance. The objective is to investigate whether the beads naturally settle into a stable configuration above a critical rotational speed, thereby reducing vibration and improving dynamic balance.

The concept is inspired by passive tire-balancing technologies, where free-moving balancing beads automatically compensate for uneven mass distribution during high-speed rotation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T47s4L1Wje4
SDP125 — Bowling Ball Motion Sensor: Inertial Validation of Vision Tracking

Design and build a compact inertial sensor, for the inside thumb grip insert, that independently measures RPM, axis tilt, and hook trajectory during a bowling roll. Validate its measurements against Better Bowl’s vision based tracking system to create a accurate ball motion analytics platform.
SDP126 — Custom Electric Guitar

This project builds a custom electric guitar from raw wood and electronic parts. The goal is to create a high-quality, playable instrument that matches modern sound standards while learning fine woodworking and circuit wiring skills.
SDP127 — NADS GPS II

A second-generation, flight-qualified RF ranging and tracking system for the solid-motor rockets built by the AeroBing Rocketry Research Group. The system independently measures rocket position at altitudes where commercial GPS and barometric sensors fail, providing AeroBing's MATLAB trajectory models a comparison on real data. This project continues the work of the original NADS GPS capstone project, which produced a functioning proof-of-concept tracking system that was validated by catapult testing but was too large and too heavy to integrate into the AeroBing electronics bay.
SDP128 — TALON GS

A portable, rapidly deployable ground station that receives, decodes, logs, and visualizes live telemetry from AeroBing's solid-motor rockets throughout the entire flight. From idle through ignition, max-apogee, descent, and recovery. The rocket's onboard flight computer already produces a rich data stream (position estimates, barometric altitude, IMU acceleration, and more flight-state events), but AeroBing currently has no reliable means of capturing and reconnecting that stream on the ground in real time. Oftentimes flight data is only available after physical recovery of the airframe, which means a lost or damaged rocket loses all data. TALON GS will provide the launch crew with a system with a live operations display (altitude, velocity, position, event flags, and link quality), maintains a complete timestamped log of every received packet for post-flight analysis, and can connect and maintain lock on board telemetry from multiple positions as the rocket travels downrange and to high altitude.
SDP129 — Motor-driven centrifugal reverse osmosis module

The centrifugal reverse osmosis (CRO) system is an innovative desalination technique that utilizes centrifugal pressure generated within a rotating module to separate salt from water. In the retentate channel, both salt concentration and pressure increase radially, enabling more efficient operation compared to conventional reverse osmosis (RO), which requires the entire module to be pressurized. The team is tasked with designing and manufacturing a cylindrical CRO module for brackish water desalination. The module will be driven by an external motor to achieve the required rotation.
SDP130 — PLA Filament Recycler

A bench-scale recycling system that converts PLA purge waste from Bambu Lab printers into reusable 1.75mm filament through controlled feeding, melting, extrusion, cooling, and pulling.
SDP131 — Experimental Setup to Create and Measure Misalignment on Total Knee Replacement Sensors

Design and build a test setup to characterize self-powered load sensors for total knee replacement (TKR) devices under simulated misalignment. The setup shall produce varus/valgus tilt angles from 0.5-6 degrees and provide tunable center-of-pressure shift within 1 cm (medial/lateral/anterior/posterior). Students shall identify critical factors affecting knee kinematics and incorporate them into the fixture design. The setup mounts to the MTS machine and interfaces with the TKR and sensor package; a 6-channel PCB shall regulate sensor voltage output and extract tilt angle and center-of-pressure shift, displaying results with target accuracy of 2 mm (CoP) and 1 degree (tilt). Students will work with PhD researchers to validate the setup for stability, durability, and accuracy.
SDP132 — Remotely Operated Biosensing River Drone

This project develops an automated biosensing payload for a low-cost, open-source, existing underwater vehicle platform to detect waterborne pathogens and toxins in real-time. It integrates a precise microfluidic sampling mechanism with an optical reader for validated rapid assays, serving as a mobile, low-cost early warning tool for river ecosystem monitoring and public health protection.
SDP201 — Mobile Battery-Powered Shaft Lift and Positioning System for Calibration Oven Installation and Removal

Design and build a mobile, battery-powered lift system that allows a single operator to safely install and remove a 20-35 lb shaft from a calibration rig oven. The system must provide vertical lift, in/out positioning, maneuverability, stable locking, emergency stop capability, and sufficient battery life for repeated use.
SDP202 — DesertShield: Foldable Heat‑Reduction Shade System

DesertShield is a lightweight, foldable shade system designed to reduce extreme heat in outdoor school environments. The concept provides quick, reliable sun protection using a pop‑up roof panel, solar‑assisted airflow, and durable materials that improve comfort, safety, and usability for students and staff.
SDP203 — Simple animatronic goblins

Simple animatronics of goblins turning their head to look at each other opening their jaws in sequence then looking away.
SDP204 — Very Small Flow Rate Atomizing Nozzle

Students will further develop and build a compact nozzle designed to atomize water at very small flow rates. The proposed design aims to overcome common limitations of current mist-based systems, such as inconsistent fluid delivery and limited control overflow rates, while avoiding the size and complexity of alternative solutions. We envision a prototype-driven senior design project, where a student team could build and test a prototype, iterating on the design. The project would involve a combination of fluid mechanics and precision mechanical design, offering opportunities for practical innovation within a relatively simple device architecture.
SDP205 — TBD

Collins Aerospace
SDP206 — Car Wash Pedestal – Mechanical & Enclosure Engineering (Hamilton HTK/CTK Replacement)

Design a modular, weatherproof car wash pay-station pedestal enclosure to physically replace the legacy Hamilton HTK/CTK cabinet. Scope is limited to mechanical/enclosure engineering: CAD modeling of the upper head module (36.5"H x 18"W x 14"D, ~64"-65" overall assembly) matching Hamilton Base Kit #100-0201 concrete bolt pattern (1'-6"x10", 5/8" holes, 1'-0"x8" wire opening) and 119"x36 3/16" island footprint; clearance integration beneath existing 100"H weather canopies; modular base risers for standard (18" base / 47"-56" screen centerline) vs. lifted-truck bays (24" base / 55"-64" centerline); and environmental climate control design (internal PTC heater, exhaust fan, baffled ventilation louvers) to meet a -20°F to 140°F operating envelope and IP65/NEMA 4 weatherproofing target. Electrical/embedded controller, payment/scanning peripherals, and cloud/software scope from the full proposal are explicitly out of scope for this team.

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2026/2027 Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Projects

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