2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper presents a case study of an interdisciplinary capstone project at Florida Atlantic University and provides comprehensive guidance on navigating key challenges in undergraduate engineering education. As engineering problems grow increasingly complex, bridging the knowledge gaps between distinct technical disciplines is critical. Specific challenges are addressed related to team management, cohesive interdisciplinary communication, effective hardware-software systems integration, and the pedagogical handling of unpredictable technical constraints within a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) framework.

The interdisciplinary team was strategically composed of two computer scientists, one electrical engineer, and one computer engineer. Their objective was to develop an autonomous driving system for a ride-on vehicle under strict pedagogical constraints: using a single camera as the sole input, avoiding obstacles without human intervention, maintaining a low cost, and achieving real-time processing without computationally intensive Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. To satisfy these constraints, the team developed a custom architecture utilizing an NVIDIA Jetson Nano to execute visual looming algorithms, bridged via I2C to an ESP32 microcontroller for motor actuation.

Beyond the technical architecture, this paper foregrounds the interpretive educational insights of the student experience. Team dynamics, disciplinary silos, and integration challenges were rigorously evaluated using peer accountability reports and the Szatmary rubric for ABET outcomes. Technical success was ultimately validated by the prototype earning two awards at the required senior capstone showcase. By documenting the specific friction points between the team members, their disciplines, and the strategies used to overcome them, this work yields valuable best practices. It provides actionable recommendations for scalability, offering educators practical guidance on implementing similar constraint-driven, multidisciplinary capstone experiences across varying engineering curricula.