Ever wanted to build something but didn’t know how? Thought you couldn’t master the skills needed? Want to take an idea or solution to a problem and bring it into reality? This course will give you the confidence to design, prototype, and build solutions to real world problems. You’ll have the opportunity to pick up new skills, or expand and grow existing ones in CAD, Digital Fabrication, Circuit Design and Fabrication, Programing, and even the good old hammer. You’ll begin the year with “deep-dives”, building simple projects that grow your confidence in a range of these skills. As the year progresses, you’ll have the opportunity in small teams to either propose your own projects/ideas, or service a client’s needs with an innovative solution. You’ll come out of this experience with transferable skills, and the tenacity to do anything from repairing a smartphone, through to designing your own sensor system to interface with it!

This course builds on the skills developed in PHYS6701.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Understand and gain experience with the process of prototyping--design, build, evaluate, iterate; 
2. Develop, analyse, and critically evaluate alternative options in order to justify and generate solutions in a real-world project;
3. Demonstrate proficiency with a wide variety of key techniques in hands-on making, electronics, and systems integration;
4. Effectively communicate decisions and solutions using appropriate media to professional and lay audiences;
5. Apply project management and organisational skills to produce time-sensitive deliverables in a multidisciplinary team.