Lessons Learned From a Project-Based Learning Approach for Teaching New Cognitive Product Development to Multi-Disciplinary Student Teams

This paper presents lessons learned from a project-based approach for teaching new cognitive product development to multi-disciplinary student teams. Within the class, interdisciplinary teams with students from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science are formed. To date, the class has been run five semesters using different themes and developing more than 15 new products. Cognitive products are tangible and durable things with cognitive capabilities that consist of a physical carrier system with embodied mechanics, electronics, microprocessors and software. The surplus value is created through cognitive capabilities, e.g. perceiving, learning and reasoning, that are enabled by flexible control loops and cognitive algorithms. Common product development processes are often not applicable to this high level of interdisciplinarity and require extension and refinement. Therefore, project-focused, technical lectures, balancing technology-push and market pull, are given and specifically tailored to cognitive product design. Additionally, software and hardware prototyping workshops and toolkits are provided in combination with the support of technical and process coaches to assist the teams. Attention is especially paid to giving students hands-on experience in developing their own cognitive product starting with the generation of ideas, turning the best idea into a product concept and finally building a functional and a design prototype. Lessons learned through the refinement of the product development process and methods used as well as from student questionnaires are presented and discussed.