ME 333 end of course schedule

Thursday, Week 10: Meet in the Mechatronics Lab by 12:30 for final project demos. All projects must be demo'ed in only 80 minutes, so you must be ready to demo promptly at 12:30. You will give grades for each project and vote for the Outstanding Project.

Friday, Week 10: Demo in the Tech lobby. The demo will begin promptly at 11:30 and be finished by 1:00. You should bring your project, ready to demo, to the lobby by 11:30. We will be bringing power supplies from the Mechatronics Lab starting at 11:00. Each group is required to demo, though not all team members must be present. You should make a sign (a sheet of paper is fine) with the name of your project.

Finals week: Return your project equipment and lab keys (see below).

Due by Friday of finals week, 8:00 AM: (1) Your final project wiki page (see below); (2) your project scores for you and your teammates, by email to Prof. Lynch; and (3) your reimbursement forms and receipts (see below). Also, if you plan to continue to work on mechatronics projects and would like to be able to continue to add to the wiki, send email to Prof. Lynch and we will keep your userid and password active.

Regarding self-scoring of your team: You have 10 points to distribute for each member on your team, so if you all contributed equally, give the scores 10/10/10. If one person contributed half as much as the other two, give the scores 12/12/6. Feel free to give an explanation for your scores.

Final Wiki Page

Following the templates on the ME 333 final projects page, substitute your project title for "Project Title x" and edit the page created when you click on it. Make sure that the pages you create have a brief but descriptive title. In fact, all files you upload and pages you create must have unique names. (You may wish to do this by inserting the initials of your team members in the file name of every file you upload; for example, if your last names are Mike Hwang/Andy Long/Clara Smart, you could use the file name ProjectPhoto-MH_AL_CS.jpg to make sure there are no interfering file names.) Ideally, your entire project should be put on a single wiki page (unless you are documenting a useful new capability; see below), along with links to any pdf files, images, code, movies, text files, or whatever helps explain your project. Be reasonable; don't upload giant files. Generally, you should keep the total amount of uploaded material to less than 10 MB, usually much less.

Links. When you include a link to a page on the mechatronics wiki, please make it an internal link instead of an external link, so if the host server for the wiki ever changes, the link will still work. For example, refer to the accelerometers page like this (using the code [[Accelerometers|like this]]) instead of like this (using the code [http://hades.mech.northwestern.edu/wiki/index.php/Accelerometers like this]).

Page content. Your wiki page should have at least one picture of the entire system, showing clearly what it is. Generally, your wiki page should start out with this picture, names of the team members, a picture of the team (you can use the picture taken during lab 3 of your lab group, if you wish), and an overview of what your project is and how it works. Then you should have subsections: mechanical design, electrical design, code, and results and reflections. The overriding goals are for the page to be useful to future students who will look at the page, and to give enough detail to allow someone else to duplicate your project. The mechanical and electrical design sections should have lists of parts used (including part numbers, vendors, and cost, when available). The mechanical design section should have clear drawings, or sufficiently clear pictures. Circuit schematics should be given for all non-obvious circuits. The results and reflections section should give an honest assessment of how well your project turned out, and what you would do differently if you could do it again.

Images. In most cases, the images as viewed in the wiki page should be relatively small -- big enough that the image is useful, but not so big that the page is huge or the flow of the wiki page is disrupted. When the user clicks on the image, they can see the larger image for more detail.

Code. Your code should be modular (each function should be relatively short and perform a clearly defined function) and well commented (so others can understand it). You should provide a link to the full code, and be sure to give it a unique name (e.g., "code.c" and "main.c" are not good names!).

New capabilities for the wiki. If you have mastered a new capability not already present on the wiki that others would also find useful (e.g., you interfaced to a new kind of sensor, or developed novel communication capabilities, etc.), you should write these as separate compact wiki pages that helps a novice use the capability. If a page already exists on the topic but should be improved based on your experience, please do so instead of creating a new page, to avoid a proliferation of similar pages. You can link these pages to your project description, and we will link to them from the main hierarchy. Also, if you see any mistakes on the wiki or think some pages can be improved, you are welcome to update them. All edits are recorded by the author's name.

Returning Your Equipment and Keys, and Submitting Your Reimbursement Forms

Your lab kits (including the small PIC board [you are welcome to keep the larger PIC board with the prototyping area], 5V wall brick for the PIC boards, USB-RS232 cable, RC servo and Faulhaber motors, ICD programmer and cables, C manuals, PIC software CD, multimeter, two batteries, battery charger, wall power adapter (+/-12V, 5V), two breadboard power boardlets, large breadboard, small breadboard, and wire strippers), all materials lent to you for the purposes of your project or Lab 5 (e.g., motors, LCDs, cables, sensors, etc.), and all items that you wish to be reimbursed for, must be returned to Rick Marzec in the mechatronics lab. He will be available in the lab on Monday March 17 from 10-11 AM and Thursday March 20 from 10-11 AM, and he will verify that everything has been returned. If anything you are returning is not functioning properly, be sure to let Rick know.

At this time you should also return all lab keys for your group. If you have a reason you'd like continued access to the lab, email Prof. Lynch with cc to Rick Marzec, r-marzec at northwestern.edu. Similarly, if you'd like to be able to continue editing the wiki, send an email to Prof. Lynch.

You should also submit your reimbursement forms at this time. See below for more details.

Course credit will not be assigned to teams who have not returned their equipment. Your bench (last number of your team number) must also be straightened up by Monday morning.

Reimbursement

You must turn in a completely filled out vendor request form along with your reimbursement form (pdf form, excel form) and original receipts and proof of payment (such as a credit card statement or returned check). Receipts that are not full 8 1/2" x 11" sheets should be scotch-taped completely around all four edges to one side of a blank (front and back) sheet of white paper. (Not my rule; the University's. Trust me, you won't be reimbursed if you don't adhere to it!) You can put multiple receipts on the same page. You will not be reimbursed for tax, so don't include this on the reimbursement form. (You can get a tax-exempt letter from me, which you can show to a vendor to make sure you are not charged tax.) If your group paid for things by cash, it will be easier if you combine receipts so just one student is being reimbursed, rather than having two or three small reimbursements to different students. Use your judgment, but don't bother with small reimbursements of just a few dollars. Do not staple! Paper clip your pages together.

According to Sinta Kulanda, Financial Assistant in Mech Eng who will be processing your reimbursements: "We need the original receipts and proof of payment. If a student pays cash they just have to provide the cash receipt. Purchases by credit card or check require proof of payment such as the credit card statement (printed out from the credit card web page) or a returned check. Proof of payment is required for purchases higher than $50.00."