At Dartmouth, ENGS 76 (Machine Engineering) is a class that provides hands on experience with mechanical design and analysis through a semester long project to design a machine to complete a challenge. When I took the class, the challenge was to create a machine that could assemble a bridge to span a 12 inch “canyon.” The bridge had to be constructed from a fixed set of materials, including plastic or foam blocks for support pylons and aluminum plates for the deck. The bridges were scored based on the amount of material used and the time required to complete the bridge, among other factors. The machines were controlled by human operators, using a RC transmitter. We were supplied with a kit of basic mechanical parts, motors and other electronics. All other parts had to be fabricated using the variety of machines available in the machine shop.

I developed a path planning algorithm for autonomous sailboats that prevents collisions with obstacles under shifting wind conditions as my computer science honors thesis.

For my capstone engineering project at Dartmouth (ENGS 89/90), I worked with a team of five other students to develop a model rocket that could perform vertical take off and landing (VTVL), inspired by the rockets developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. This project was completed in partnership with STEM Robotix, a local company, with the intent of developing an educational product.

At the time of this project, there had never been a successful controlled vertical landing of a model rocket, let alone one developed as a product. Joe Barnard is trying to build a VTVL model rocket as part of a larger effort to build thrust vectored model rockets, and documenting his progress on YouTube.