Teaching industrial design in mechanical engineering: a laboratory for design and engineering

The introduction of novel information technologies has changed the product development process in industry. There is anongoing integration between mechanical and industrial design, with both fields using somewhat similar design tools.Unfortunately, a large gap still exists between these two professions in academia. Mechanical design and industrial designare typically taught in different schools, using different educational methods, and emphasizing different topics in theircurricula. Integration of these two academic disciplines in an academic course is rarely encountered. In order to overcomethis limitation, we introduced a new laboratory course for design and engineering where we teach engineering under-graduate students, in addition to mechanical engineering practice, basic concepts of industrial design and allow them togain hands-on experience. Each semester 16 undergraduate ME students participate in the laboratory. A survey conductedamong students who completed the laboratory studies yielded very positive feedback: the majority of students respondedthat they appreciate learning and implementing the concepts of industrial design and integrating engineering practice withcreative design.