Who has good ideas??

doanster

Senior member
Jun 8, 2005
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So, we're suppose to do an 8 month project at school for our fourth year of electrical engineering. A small problem is, we have no clue what we should do.

Any suggestions???
 

KillyKillall

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2004
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Build an electronic beer dispensor which meets the following requirements:

1) It never has to be refilled manually
2) It is kept cold
3) It is in my house
 

Canun

Senior member
Apr 1, 2006
528
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Design an small car that can follow a masking tape track on concrete without remote control. Also have it fire a small gas cannon and put a projectile on a target. It was the senior project the year I was a Freshman at Texas Tech.
 

Armitage

Banned
Feb 23, 2001
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Not to be an ass (to late :p) - but what are you doing in engineering if you don't have any ideas or imagination?

Here's an idea for you - a bistatic radar system capable of taking metric observations on satellites with the signal source being an uncoorperative orbital source like GPS or some GEO transponder.
 

habib89

Diamond Member
Jan 17, 2001
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are there any requirements? i'm mechanical so i have no idea what EE guys do for senior projects.. i think my CompE friend programmed something.. i have no clue
 

KillyKillall

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2004
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Originally posted by: doanster
Engineers suck at coming up with problems... they're only good at solving them :)

The ones that end up making a huge name for themselves and tons of money are the ones that "come up with problems" and "solve problems."

Think about that for a while or you'll end up working for someone else your whole life solving their problems for their profit.
 

doanster

Senior member
Jun 8, 2005
585
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Originally posted by: KillyKillall
Originally posted by: doanster
Engineers suck at coming up with problems... they're only good at solving them :)

The ones that end up making a huge name for themselves and tons of money are the ones that "come up with problems" and "solve problems."

Think about that for a while or you'll end up working for someone else your whole life solving their problems for their profit.

We're not in the business of fooling people into thinking that they have a problem. We try not to make it a habit of profiting at the expense of the public.
We're also glad that you prefer to argue than provide tangible feedback...

 

KillyKillall

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2004
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Originally posted by: doanster
Originally posted by: KillyKillall
Originally posted by: doanster
Engineers suck at coming up with problems... they're only good at solving them :)

The ones that end up making a huge name for themselves and tons of money are the ones that "come up with problems" and "solve problems."

Think about that for a while or you'll end up working for someone else your whole life solving their problems for their profit.

We're not in the business of fooling people into thinking that they have a problem. We try not to make it a habit of profiting at the expense of the public.
We're also glad that you prefer to argue than provide tangible feedback...

As far as ideas, I wish I had one for you, but I'm not sure what kind of things you are looking for. Could you post some examples of some projects that have been done in the past?

I never said that you should "fool people into thinking that they have a problem." I was implying that many engineers that are successful go out and FIND problems and solve them. It is the same mentality of working for yourself instead of someone else.

I disagree with your comment that "Engineers suck at coming up with problems." It is naive and self-destructing to your own career. Have fun thinking like that because most people that don't think of the big picture usually don't last a long time in the field that their in these days. It is too easy to outsource everything.

 

Armitage

Banned
Feb 23, 2001
8,086
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Originally posted by: doanster
Engineers suck at coming up with problems... they're only good at solving them :)

I disagree - most engineers I know have tons of ideas and are simply limited by time or resources from pursuing them.

I'm serious about the bistatic radar thing though. I've seen demos of aircraft tracking with this concept using TV towers as the signal source.
 

doanster

Senior member
Jun 8, 2005
585
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81
Upon some discussion, we think maybe an interfacing system for an ipod might be a neat idea.
What are some desirable features/function on an ipod do you ipod owners out there might have?
Any annoyances?
 

henryay

Senior member
Aug 14, 2002
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iPod Video to DVI interface? Not sure if it is possible and it would be more on the CE/Embedded Systems side.
 

doanster

Senior member
Jun 8, 2005
585
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Originally posted by: henryay
iPod Video to DVI interface? Not sure if it is possible and it would be more on the CE/Embedded Systems side.

Yeah, that would be really neat!

We were thinking of maybe tying it into an existing ipod-to-home-stereo dock. Maybe like a RF remote control for your ipod... who wants to get up from the coach to change tracks or EQ settings while your ipod is hooked up to your entertainment unit so far away??