2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Repurposing Student-initiated Workshops for Interdisciplinary Engineering Challenges

Presented at Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED) Poster Session

Many academic makerspaces offer a high level of autonomy to their students, leading to a wide spectrum of student-initiated training workshops. We have seen a variety of workshops proposed and run by students in our makerspace. However, these workshops are either standalone or operate within disciplinary silos. For example, two groups of students, one interested in robotics and the other in computer vision generated two one-time, isolated workshops in our makerspace. While student organizers and participants may learn the individual skills from these workshops, the interdisciplinary synthesis essential to tackle modern engineering challenges is missing.

In this work-in-progress paper, we present a bottom-up approach to enable students to integrate skillsets across disciplines. Our approach repurposes these domain-specific workshops, originally designed for technical enthusiasm, into training components for engineering challenges. This bottom-up approach emphasizes the learning process and interdisciplinary synthesis, distinguishing it from competitions like hackathons or F1 racing where achieving the given task is the sole goal. Unlike fixed competitions, this modular approach allows different workshop combinations to address varied engineering challenges.

We report the first trial in our makerspace where we packaged two popular standalone workshops—robotic arm control and AI-powered object detection—into a random bin picking challenge derived from an industrial collaborator. Several benefits of this integrated approach were observed. First, integrating the two modules required students to develop systems thinking capabilities, as they needed to understand how computer vision output connects to robotic manipulation tasks. This integration required developing a third workshop on hand-eye calibration to bridge the two domains. Second, student engagement increased significantly compared to individual workshops, with participants coming more often to our makerspace for practice for the challenge. Third, the hosted challenges can serve to evaluate both technical competency and interdisciplinary integration. Fourth, the authentic industrial context enhanced motivation and helped students recognize practical applications of their skills.

Preliminary results suggest positive impacts on learning outcomes, based on feedback from students who participated in training workshops for the integrated challenge. Results indicate improved understanding of robotic arm control (rated 5.0/5.0) and gains in additional skills such as programming (rated 4.0/5.0). While participants reported increased confidence in using robotic arms after these workshops (rated 4.0/5.0), we acknowledge these findings are preliminary and are based on a limited sample size (43 questionnaires). Moving forward, we plan to expand to other workshop combinations (e.g., on-device AI by combining electronics and computer vision workshops) and collect longitudinal data to better understand the impact on students' learning outcomes.

Authors

Dr. LEI YANG http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3284-4019 University of Hong Kong [biography]

Dr. Lei Yang is a lecturer of Innovation Academy of the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing under the Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong. Before that, he worked as a Research Officer at Centre of Transformative Garment Production from 2021 to 2023 and as a postdoctoral fellow at Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong from 2018 to 2021. Dr. Yang received his Bachelor's degree and Ph.D. degree from Dalian University of Technology in 2012 and 2018, respectively. Dr. Yang's research interest includes Computer-Aided Design, Computer-Aided Engineering, and Geometry Modeling and Multimedia.
Mr. Chun Kit Chan University of Hong Kong [biography]

Ryan Chan Chun Kit is a Mechanical Engineer with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong. During his experience working in Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing, Ryan has demoonstrated a diverse skillset and rich teaching experience in the field of engineering.

Throughout his academic journey, Ryan has excelled in various engineering projects and research endeavors. He has been actively involved in designing workshops on cutting-edge technologies such as embedded systems, ROS and IoT. Additionally, Ryan has led a undergraduate student research team on robotics, developing various types of smart robots.

Moreover, Ryan has been contributing to the community of Robotics through volunteer means. He has served as an Adviser for BREED and Nestspace at HKU, where he offers consultation and guidance on various projects. Ryan's technical proficiency includes 3D Printing, robotics, 3D modeling and mechanical machining.

With a passion for creating a better learning environment for fellow engineers, Ryan is dedicated to enhancing his skills and contributing to the advancement of mechanical engineering.
Mr. Ian Leong Ting Lo The University of Hong Kong [biography]

Working as a student project development officer at the HKU Innovation Wing, passionate about robotics and education.
Dr. Tien-Hsuan Wu University of Hong Kong [biography]

Dr. Kevin Tien-Hsuan Wu is a Lecturer at the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong. Prior to this role, he served as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Law and Technology Centre at HKU. Dr. Wu specializes in developing Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications and guiding student project development initiatives.
Prof. Chun Kit Chui University of Hong Kong [biography]

Prof. Chun Kit Chui serves as the Director of the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The Innovation Wing aims to unleash students’ creativity by entrusting them to spearhead ambitious innovation and technology projects that will shape the future. This iconic facility is situated at the heart of the campus, offering 2400m² of space with state-of-the-art resources and a supportive environment to enhance hands-on and experiential learning for undergraduate students.
In addition to his role as Director, Prof. Chui holds the position of Assistant Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the Faculty of Engineering at HKU, responsible for driving curriculum reform and active learning activities. His research interests include database and data mining, as well as pedagogical research in engineering education.
Prof. Chui has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the University Distinguished Teaching Award (Individual Award) at the University of Hong Kong for the 2024-25 academic year, the University Outstanding Teaching Award (Individual Award) at the University of Hong Kong for the 2015-16 academic year, and the Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award (Individual Award) in the Faculty of Engineering for the 2023-24 and 2012-13 academic years. Additionally, he has been honoured with the Teaching Excellence Award in the Department of Computer Science for the academic years 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16. Furthermore, he was a shortlisted candidate for the UGC Teaching Award (Early Career Faculty Member).

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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