Georgia Tech Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Projects Studio

Welcome to the joint Mechanical Engineering / Industrial Design senior capstone design studio.

The Value Proposition
Teams of students work on semester-long projects for outside sponsors. Four to five students, typically half designers (industrial design students) and half engineers (mechanical engineers and environmental engineers) work under the tutelage of the faculty (both mechanical engineering and industrial design) and their external sponsors/mentors to define the project, perform ethnological research with users, develop designs, and fabricate, test and refine prototypes. They truly do the entire design, build, test, and optimize cycle in the space of one semester! Typically one half of the teams work on humanitarian projects focused on the developing world. The other half of the student teams work with commercial organizations to develop products and systems.

Global Humanitarian Projects
Students have worked with Amigos for Christ (Nicaragua - water well pumping and distribution systems, alternative biofuel gasification cook stoves and incinerators that reduce deforestation), ACREST (Cameroon - Portable biomass charcoal kiln), Climate Healers (Rajasthan, India - Solar energy storage cooks stove), Seedr L3C (Cold chain equipment for vaccine and drugs), WHO / Gates Foundation / PATH / Project Optimize (Tunisia - Zero net energy solar health care clinics and regional vaccine stores), and S2O (South Africa - Community and sports centers for rural areas). Many of these projects have been implemented by the sponsoring organizations in the field.

Commercial Projects
Student teams have worked with Delta Air Lines (food and beverage carts), TriVantage (residential awnings), Orbit Baby (active life-style baby strollers), Coca Cola (interactive, intelligent refrigerators for large stores), Solvay Advanced Polymers (medical instrument cases), and Post Medical (medical sharps waste containers). Examples of direct benefits include: (1) IP is being pursued by two companies; (2) One company hired a student team member to transfer technology in-house; and (3) Another company reported significantly increased productivity (68%) directly linked to implementation of student work. Accommodations can be made for proprietary information and intellectual property rights.

Get Involved - Sponsor a Project
The cost of sponsoring a project is a champion in the organization. Commercial concerns are asked provide a donation to defray the costs of the projects. The benefits to your organization include working with Georgia Tech students who provide fresh takes and ideas on your design challenges, reports and prototypes, access to the students, and participation in design reviews and the ME Design Expo where all of the teams in the ME school (35+ each semester) present their capstone design projects. Fall projects run from mid-August to early December; Spring projects run from early January to late April.

Get Involved - Contact Us
Fill out this form to propose a project and email it to us.
Profs. Jonathan Colton; Jim Budd; Wayne Li; Kevin Shankwiler
jcolton@gatech.edu; 404-894-7407

PDF copy of Capstone Design Brochure

Note: This page presents samples of only the humanitarian projects. Commercial projects are not presented for obvious reasons.

The projects, reports, and presentation are copyrighted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010 - 2011.

Spring 2010

Project title and description	Final report	Final Presentation
Water for Nicaragua: This team designed a water acquisition and distribution system for a Nicaraguan village. The system is driven by a solar- and biofuel-driven steam engine.	Water Report	Water Presentation
Net Zero Energy Health Care Clinic: This team designed a health care clinic for Tunisia. Using solar photovoltaic cells and geothermal energy, this grid-tied system generates more energy than it consumes, allowing it to sell excess energy to the grid and hence is energy and cost neutral.	Clinic Report	Clinic Presentation
Vaccine Cold Room: This team design a cold room for vaccine storage to be located in Tunisia. Using photovoltaic cells and modular construction, this grid-tied system generates more energy than it consumes, allowing it to sell excess energy to the grid and hence is energy and cost neutral.	Cold Room Report	Cold Room Presentation
Vaccine Cool Box: This group designed a novel vaccine cold box carrier to maintain temperature between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. The box and its cold packs are designed to eliminate assembly errors and for more efficient storage and freezing.	Cool Box Report	Cool Box Presentation
Birthing Kit: The group designed a vest for trained birthing attendants (TBAs) to carry their equipment and supplies, as well as a cool box to carry birth dose vaccines and labor inducing drugs. The kit is designed for tropical climates, such as in Papua New Guinea.	Birthing Kit Report Birthing Kit Figures	Birthing Kit Presentation
Immunization and Well Being Kit: This group designed a portable health care worker post to support immunization and well being outreach programs in tropical climates, such as Papua New Guinea. The kit consists of a banner-like structure which holds the equipment and supplies on one side and provides a chalkboard-like surface on the other for communication and education.	Immunization Kit Report	Immunization Kit Presentation

Fall 2010

Project title and description	Final report	Final presentation
Rice Husk Gasification Stove: This group designed a rice husk gasification stove for villagers in Nicaragua to reduce deforestation and respiratory disease due to cooking fire smoke.	Stove Final Report	Stove Final Presentation
Prosthetic Hands for Terror Victims: This group designed artificial hands for terror victims in Sierra Leone. The prostheses were designed to be fabricated and maintained locally.	Prosthetics Final Report	Prosthetics Final Presentation
Mobility Devices for Children: This group designed personal mobility devices for paralyzed children, with application in India. The devices allow children to move about in adverse conditions and be self-reliant.	Mobility Device Final Report	Mobility Device Final Presentation

Spring 2011

Project title and description	Final report	Final presentation
Rice Husk Briquettes for Fuel: Loose rice husks are problematic to gasify and burn as a fuel source, but they are plentiful in rural Nicaragua. This group designed rice husk briquettes and methods to fabricate them, thereby solving this problem.	Briquette Final Report	Briquette Final Presentation
Portable Charcoal Kiln: This group designed a portable kiln to convert biomass to coal, to alleviate deforestation and smoke-related respiratory disease in Cameroon. The device can be used as the basis for a small business.	Charcoal Kiln Final Report	Charcoal Kiln Final Presentation

Fall 2011

Project title and description	Final report	Final presentation
Solar Cook Stove: This group designed a stove that will collect and store solar energy to allow cooking for the evening meal and the next morning's breakfast in rural Rajasthan, India.	Solar Cook Stove Final Report	Solar Cook Stove Final Presentation
Incinerator / Cook Stove: This group designed an incinerator and cook stove that is fueled by biomaterials (rice husks) and destroys plastic waste and garbage in rural Nicaragua.	Incinerator Cook Stove Final Report	Incinerator Cook Stove Final Presentation

Spring 2012

Project title and description	Final report	Final presentation
Latrine Training Mat: This group designed a latrine training mat to help toilet train toddlers in Kenya.	Latrine Traning Mat Final Report	Latrine Training Mat Final Presentation
Cold Chain Back-up Power System: This group designed a back-up power system for cold chain supplies (vaccines and drugs) in developing countries, using compressed air as the battery.	Power Back-up Final Report	Power Back-up Final Presentation