2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper presents an interdisciplinary, across-team, year-round senior capstone project involving eleven students from Electrical Engineering (EE), Mechanical Engineering (ME), Computer Engineering (CPE), and Computer Science (CS) at Seattle Pacific University. The project, H-Mobile, is a semi-autonomous robotic device with forklift-like features. H-Mobile provides remote control and self-driving assistance, navigating to target heavy objects, lifting them, and then carrying and depositing them where the user wills. This project aims to assist individuals who are movement-impaired when attempting to retrieve objects at home. Over the course of three quarters, a group of engineering students identified the problem and developed a broad solution, beginning with pitching ideas to CS students and forming their joint team in the fall, followed by designing and prototyping in the winter, and final integration in the spring. A team contract and deliverable list were outlined along with the joint team formation. The team contract and deliverable list address common challenges faced in interdisciplinary collaboration by emphasizing clear roles, shared goals, and continuous communication. A weekly team meeting with a faculty member, rotating among the EE, ME, and CS disciplines, and a quarterly presentation to the advisory board serve to further facilitate this process. The paper discusses educational motivations, project structure, collaboration strategies, and lessons learned from implementing a multidisciplinary and across-team capstone experience, contributing valuable insights into engineering education and team-based project management.