On December 15, 2019, the College of Engineering (COE) held a final report meeting for the Robot Engineering Innovation Practice course in the classroom 407 at the second teaching building of Peking University. The students were composed of 2019’ master students of Engineering Management of COE, Peking University and graduate students in the School of Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). They were divided into 15 groups, and their innovative works were reported and demoed, respectively.

Since 2018, COE started to cooperate with CAFA to carry out the cooperation course. This is the second time. In the 8-week course, Professor Guangming Xie from COE presented the history and development of robots, pointed out the profound impact of robot technology on human life, and led everyone to carry out basic practice of robot engineering, including structure assembling, hardware programming, system designing and function implementing. Professor Xiaowen Chen, Professor Jun Fei, Professor Xuanzheng Wang, and teacher Zhongyuan Lv from CAFA successively shared students with classical design case analysis, story design methods and thinking, design and art, etc. As a part of the course, both teachers and students saw the art exhibition Human (UN)Limited.

Students experienced innovative idea spark from the interaction of technology and art, and further thought about the development of science and technology from scope of ethics. Students in groups completed a series of processes from ideation and programming to prototype construction and improvement. From class study and after class practice, students had a better understanding and deeper comprehension about innovation. They created their robot prototype in an innovative way at the end- to make it serve for human well-beings.

At the report meeting, 15 group-works inspired from different pain points for people's livelihood and social hot spots, covering family, emotion, health, education, transportation, engineering, etc. Through artistic design and technological innovation, they gave new possible solutions to these problems. Here are their works:

 Heart Lamp-an intelligent desk lamp with healing function

Nonviolent communication Bracelet-a helper to manage emotion

Pursuing Light Street Lamp-a futuristic urban furniture

XIAO AI Globe- a partner to help children explore the world

Intelligent Deposit Tank-a financial educator

Just for You- a reminder ring to protect your marriage

Flower’s Language-an intelligent flower pot

iBox2.0- a home smart express box

Call from life-an ecological simulation device of human and natural scene

Wag Its Tail-a bionic interactive emotional robot Cat

Tower Cleaner-a climbing cleaning operator

Vest for the visually impaired

Mr. Banana-a traffic guide

Big thing-an intelligent toilet system

BODY4.0- a physical condition monitor

At the report meeting, the teachers gave their insights from technical route, design innovation, art aesthetics, market value, application prospects and other perspectives, and communicated with students. Performance evaluation is based on both teachers and students mutual scores, which is more open and democratic, stimulating the enthusiasm of students to learn from each other.

Group Photo