Students bring engineering to the Ohio State Fair

Experience what it’s like to be an engineering student at The Ohio State University College of Engineering during the Ohio State Fair, July 24-August 4, 2013. Fair attendees can engage firsthand in some of the college’s experiential learning programs through four exhibits staffed by teaching assistants in the First-Year Engineering Program and engineering student volunteers.

Designed to encourage interest and draw attention to engineering, the exhibits enable fair attendees to:

• Design and create a wind turbine propeller, then put that design to the test. Participate in an activity modeled after a first-year engineering design and build lab that provides a hands-on lesson on which designs are most effective in building modern wind turbine blades. Attendees can design, create and then test their own balsa wood blades to get immediate feedback on their designs.
   
• Operate an advanced energy vehicle by laser remote control. In this energy and environment design and build project for first-year engineering scholars students, student teams use advanced energy concepts and energy management to successfully address a real-world transportation scenario. As part of the project, students design and program small, autonomous, motor-powered vehicles that are propeller-driven along an overhead monorail system. The students present their designs to their peers and to the public at a final exhibition and also hold competitions to test the operation of the vehicles.
   
• Manipulate an underwater robot in a test aquarium with assistance from the Underwater Robotics Team. Ohio State’s Underwater Robotics Team members describe how they applied engineering skills and techniques learned in the academic environment to design and manufacture an underwater remotely operated vehicle that earned 18th place in the 2013 Marine Advanced Technology Education Center International competition. In addition to seeing the students’ competitive robot on display, fairgoers can pilot a small underwater robot through a task to test their mettle in operating the vehicle.
  
  
   
• View the 2013 Fundamentals of Engineering Honors Robot Competition course in action. See robots built by first-year honors engineering students during a semester-long team project to design, build and program a 9-by-9 inch autonomous robot using creativity and engineering principles. At the end of the semester, student teams competed to see which team designed the best robot to meet the design competition specifications. The robots have just two minutes to perform tasks involving realigning a satellite communications dish, depositing a seismic monitoring device, repairing a pyramid, returning an equipment sled to the base camp, and turning on the generator to supply power to the site.  

The interactive exhibits are at the Ohio State Fair from 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. now through Aug. 4 as part of the Technology and Engineering Showcase in the Youth Center by the fair's main Gate 1 entrance. The showcase is sponsored by the Ohio Technology and Engineering Educators Association.