LiqueFax, Inc., an imaginary engineering company, is commissioned to prepare a preliminary design of moderately involved multistage refrigeration cycle. Student teams tackle the project using what they learn about thermodynamics and chemical engineering. The engineering teams submit memos, graphs, calculations, and a professional report with blueprints of their design. Student teams are responsible for designing software that directs the robot to perform various tasks. A mini-competition is held every two weeks to assess progress and to encourage new approaches to solving problems that teams may be encountering.
Groups also submit weekly code reviews and status reports.
The course typically culminates with a final competition, such as Robo-Hoops, a robotic basketball game. In Dennis Shea's HPA 447 course, student teams participate in a 12-year simulation. During each two-year round, teams set a price for their services, decide whether or not to expand, determine a cost position, and decide how to spend any retained earnings. After all decisions are made, the simulation runs and its outcomes affect the decision making process for the next round. Professor Shea incorporates an element of realism and insecurity so that all teams are susceptible to unexpected events that either harm or improve their hospitals' reputations.