The Comprehensive Handling of Safety in an Autonomous Robot Capstone Project

A systematic approach to safety issues is described in the context of an autonomous robot capstone project.The treatment of safety should not be an ad hoc or after-thought aspect of design projects.Engineering students need to consider safety as an integral component of the design process and to identify and address hazards systematically in each stage of project work.Appropriate actions include researching professional standards and regulations, incorporating safety best practices, developing safety checklists and operating protocols, and providing significant safety documentation.Formal safety components were added to a capstone design project for electrical and computer engineering undergraduates in which an R2D2-like robot was designed and built.The work provides project examples, lessons learned, and student feedback related to the safety treatment.