The students’ inventiveness knows no bounds on the Electrical Workshop Course

In the traditional final exhibition of the electrical workshop course, groups consisting mainly of first-year-students showcased how to apply electrical engineering in practice. When presenting the course, the course leader, Kimmo Silvonen, shared that all projects done in the spring had utilised e.g. micro controllers.

The audience was presented final products such as guitar effects programmed with Arduino, a car that works with Bluetooth, a 3D led display, a basketball game, a wind tunnel, and a Quadrocopter.

Quadrocopter

The quadrocopter took flight with the help of Arduino and 3D printed parts. ‘Everything you add something, there are new challenges’ discovered the duo responsible for the project, Bruce Clayhills and Tomas Saaristola. Basically all the machine parts had broken at some stage of the project, but in the video shown at the final event, the copter’s flight and steering were quite exemplary.

Bluetooth car

All the laser-cut parts of the car had been modelled by the students themselves. Steering programming utilised ArduinoNano, which sent the steering data to the car. Olavi Korhonen, Risto Koverola, Vesa-Pekka Palmu, Sami Rahkola

3D led display

The group got the model and inspiration for making a led display by watching YouTube videos. They drew the circuit boards themselves, ordered them readymade, and after that cured them by themselves. In this final project animations are projected on the led display. The students involved in the led display project were Jaakob Lidauer, Joakim Lyyski, Vili Ojala, and Kalle Petäjäaho.

Having fun learning since 2013

The final projects made by the students participating in this spring’s Electrical Engineering Workshop were presented to the audience in the final exhibition on Monday 22 May. The course is organised twice a year during the spring and autumn terms, and the final exhibition brings together the audience and the students in the premises of the School of Electrical Engineering in Otaniemi.

The Electrical Engineering Workshop was organised for the first time in autumn 2013. Students found the course inspirational and motivational and enjoyed the supportive and positive atmosphere. The course is organised for demonstrating in practice what the theory is needed for. The course has been praised by both students and people from outside the school. The course is mainly directed to first-year students, but more and more enthusiastic participants from all Aalto University schools join the course every year.

Photos: Mikko Raskinen / Aalto University