Baby or Pet in Locked Car: a College Engineering Design Problem?

Most seniors in engineering programs across America work with professors on a final research design project to apply what they’ve learned to a real life situation.

      Faculty can choose a topic, but so can a student.  A good choice might mean economic development for the college if the project addresses an unsatisfied public need at the right cost.  The student may well step to the front of the recruitment line.

      Let’s say that warning devices for babies and pets in locked cars aren’t readily available with the simplicity that will make them affordable.  Students may work with technical communications faculty to research patents already on record.  Gaining an engineering foothold in a patent-diverse marketplace need not involve specialty lawyers to work through design options, at least on the academic level.

           For example, electrical or mechanical engineering students might consider a sensor that detects a predetermined higher temperature, another that picks up sounds of distress from a baby or pet, then relays an electrical signal to the car’s already existing audible theft warning system to attract passersby.