522: Manufacturing Device to Promote STEM Engagement (Multidisciplinary Team)

Rockwell Automation, an industry leader in technology services, asked our team to produce a system demonstrating the steps of automated manufacturing to K-12 audiences. The mission is to educate students about the manufacturing process and engage students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) topics. 

We designed a system that builds a decorative metal button. We chose this end product for its ability to demonstrate various manufacturing stages. We aimed to have the system produce one pin per minute and provide safe viewing by children. We also wanted it to engage audiences by encouraging interaction. Our end goal was to produce a system that Rockwell would be proud to showcase and use for engaging the public in automated manufacturing.

Our manufacturing system consists of stations showing different processes related to common steps in manufacturing. One such step is user personalization where a student can insert a unique design into the system. The system uses a visual sensor to check if the design fits the preset rules, demonstrating the system’s ability to quality control its inputs and outputs, a fundamental step in the manufacturing process. The system can display the various steps of manufacturing on a screen at the same time as the machine is processing the metal pin, keeping the user engaged by describing each step of the process. The design uses computer-aided design and testing software such as CAD and emulate3D to test the efficiency of the manufacturing process. The physical model uses Rockwell hardware alongside other parts.