ME553 is a graduate-level product design course taught every Spring Semester at Purdue University School by Prof. Karthik Ramani, the Donald W. Feddersen Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Central to the course is a semester-long team project. Within the course project, students work in multi-functional teams to apply methods learned on a specific, team-chosen design project. This includes but is not necessarily limited to concept generation, product definition, prototyping and design verification. You can see examples of past projects by navigating through the website toolbar.
This course combines CAD techniques and strategies with design in teams. ME444 in its new form combines the right balance of hands-on-design in the lecture/workshops with the CAD skills learnt in the labs. Students will design toys using inspiration-ideation-imagination-iteration-implementation in a new innovation framework.
Smart products and technologies are being increasingly based on combinations of electro-mechanical designs with advanced sensors, on-board intelligence and connectivity. The Internet-of-things (IoT) platforms which facilitates interconnection of devices through electronics, programming and internet is therefore becoming a baseline for technology and product design. Therefore, ME496 provides an approach for the students of mechanical engineering towards the development of Smart Products through providing a foundation towards Electro-mechanical Interconnected Systems. Using project based and structured tutorials, students will be able to learn and develop smart products while completing a variety of projects. Our philosophy is design-based learning through prototyping “Design-Build-Play”, often termed as “hands-on” project-based experiential learning.