This project establishes an interdisciplinary laboratory for the education of manufacturing engineering technicians, robotics technicians, and drafting/design technicians in a realistic, collaborative environment. The laboratory involves a CAD-based advanced prototype design and production system involving participation by students from all three disciplines. In this interaction, students from the different programs collaborate on the design, prototyping, and manufacture of discrete parts. The equipment used includes a computer- controlled system utilizing a ultra-violet laser and photo- sensitive resin to produce accurate prototypes of parts from CAD drawings. Additional equipment allows these prototypes to be measured and refined and then used to reconfigure an existing factory laboratory to manufacture the parts. As a result of this lab, students in the three disciplines gain knowledge in the use of advanced prototype production equipment and, more importantly, in how the different disciplines must interact and collaborate in an industrial setting. Thus, the proposed laboratory improvement upgrades the education of technical and engineering students in the different disciplines, and provides a model for how those disciplines can and should interact in order to prepare those students realistically and effectively for careers in an industrial environment.
