Undergraduate Capstones
Capstone Programs
Human-Computer Interaction Undergraduate Project
January–May (spring semester)
Sponsorship Fee: None
Human-computer interaction (HCI) is devoted to the design, implementation and evaluation of interactive digital services and applications. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, including computer science, information, psychology, cognitive science, design, business, stats/ML and related programs.
The HCI Undergraduate Project is a semesterlong capstone project course required for all students who pursue the HCI primary major or the HCI additional major in their last semester before graduation. The course integrates everything the students have learned in their coursework into one end-to-end experience. Students work in interdisciplinary teams of four to five students for a client, for a total of close to 1,000 hours of work. Guided by a faculty advisor, and starting with a problem statement provided by the client, students conduct user research and brainstorm design ideas that meet identified needs; go through a design ideation phase to produce and vet design ideas with client input; and produce prototypes with increasing fidelity and iteratively test them with users to improve the design. The project culminates in a working prototype that serves as a proof of concept of a novel service or product idea for the client.
Examples of Previous Projects
- A mobile app that helps dermatologists stage melanoma and decide on treatment.
- An intervention-based app that supports adolescents who are being cyberbullied.
- A web app for community auditing of machine learning services for inherent bias.
- An app to engage solar owners and provide an avenue for nonsolar owners to learn about the benefits of solar energy in Western Pennsylvania.
- Easy-to-use authoring tools that allow teachers to create personalized learning experiences.
Project examples can be found on the Undergraduate Project in HCI website.
Program Lead
Haiyi Zhu
Daniel P. Siewiorek Assistant Professor
Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Mechatronic Design
January–May (spring semester)
Sponsorship Fee: $10,000 (3-5 students per team)
Mechatronics is the synergistic integration of mechanism, electronics and computer control to achieve a functional system. Because of the emphasis upon integration, this course centers around system integration in which small teams of students configure, design and implement a succession of mechatronic subsystems, leading to an integrated main project. Class lectures cover topics that complement the laboratory work, including mechanisms, actuators, motor drivers, sensors and electronic interfaces, microcontroller hardware and programming, and basic control systems. The class is divided into multidisciplinary teams of three to five students. During the first half of the class, lab assignments are performed every 1-2 weeks to construct useful subsystems based on material learned in lecture. The lab assignments build to the main project.
This course is crosslisted in robotics, mechanical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering (ECE). It is also accepted as a capstone course for ECE undergraduates. Each year, teams must select from among a set of 2-3 project options. Sponsors are free to define a project topic that they wish to sponsor.
Examples of Previous Projects
- Autonomous window-washing robot.
- Autonomous ship-control robot.
- Autonomous vacuum for stairs.
- Autonomous venous injection robot.
- Autonomous shingle-laying robot.