Development of a multidisciplinary design course via NASA's Human-Powered Lunar Rover Design Competition

A new multidisciplinary design course was developed at the University of Tennessee in the 1996-1997 academic year. Although NASA's Human-Powered Lunar Rover Design Competition was used as the "vehicle" for the course development, the main impetus was to provide a true multidisciplinary design experience for both engineering and non-engineering students. The 1996-97 offering of the course involved eleven students from Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Science (Biomedical Option), Exercise Science, and Geology. Groups of students from the different majors were formed to design and analyze major components of the Lunar Rover. Teamwork within and between the groups was emphasized since the various components had to be integrated to form the final design. An interesting aspect of the course was to treat the two human drivers as one of the major components. This resulted in a complete engineering analysis of the performance characteristics of the students to determine the best choice of drivers (i.e., "engines"). To enhance the multidisciplinary experience, technical assistance and/or financial support was provided by the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Science Department as well as the Geology and Exercise Science Departments. The students completed the design, built the rover, and successfully participated in the NASA sponsored competition. Despite an initial hesitance to work with students outside their major, the class came together as a team. All the students enjoyed the experience and many of the students stated that they have a new found respect for the abilities and opinions of students outside their major. Because of the first year's success, the course is being offered again in the 1997-98 academic year. The course objectives and structure, results of the design process and competition, lessons learned, and future course developments are discussed in this paper.