5FTC2048 Integrated Engineering Systems Design Assignment Brief 2026 | University of Hertfordshire

5FTC2048 Assignment Brief

Assignment title: Project: Design and Prototyping of a Tabletop Robotic Palletizer
Group or individual: Group

Module title: Integrated Engineering Systems Design

Module code: 5FTC2048

Submission deadline:

Progress 1: 21-02-2026
Progress 2: 21-03-2026
Progress 3: 18-04-2026
Final: 02-05-2026
(All at 11:59pm)

Target date for return of marked assignment:

Two weeks after each submission

You are expected to spend about 160 hours to complete this assignment to a satisfactory standard.

This assignment is worth 100% of the overall assessment for this module.

Learning Outcomes

This Assignment assesses the following module Learning Outcomes (from Definitive Module Document):

LO1 Describe how products with various combinations of electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic systems,
LO2 Interact together to become a top-level system design.
LO3 Produce a top-level integrated system design for a product which may contain various combinations of electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic systems.
LO4 Present the product user inputs and system outputs, and the need for system feedback and user control.

Assignment Brief:

This is a group assessment (5 or 6 students per group).

This assessment is divided into 4 phases: 3 progress assessments and 1 final assessment.

• Please see assignment briefing on from page 3 onwards.

Submission Requirements:

• Please always submit your reports as a .pdf document to the designated submission portal on StudyNet. Submission in any other format will be graded zero (0).
• Please always submit your presentation as a .pptx document to the designated submission portal on StudyNet.
• Submission in any other format will be graded zero (0).
• All figures and tables in your report must be labeled with a number followed by a descriptive caption. Captions should be concise but comprehensive.

Project Description:

Project Overview:

In this project, students will design, prototype, and validate a tabletop robotic palletizer capable of automatically picking products from an infeed location and stacking them onto a pallet in a predefined pattern. The project emphasizes integrated mechatronic system design, combining mechanical structures, actuation, sensing, control hardware, and software into a fully functional automation system.

Students are free to select appropriate control platforms and actuation technologies, allowing them to explore industry-relevant design trade-offs between flexibility, cost, performance, and complexity.
The project simulates a real industrial palletizing task at an educational scale, providing hands-on experience in robotics, automation, and manufacturing systems integration. System Requirements:

The tabletop robotic palletizer shall:

• Detect the presence of objects at a pickup location.
• Pick objects using an appropriate end-effector.
• Transfer objects safely to a pallet area and place them accurately.
• Stack objects in a preconfigured pallet pattern.
• Support multiple stacking layers.
• Operate automatically following a defined sequence.
• Safe operation with clearly implemented safety mechanisms Repeatable and stable motion.

Clear user feedback through indicators or HMI.

• The overall size should be less than or equal 40x40x40 cm3.
• Simple, cost-effective designs that fully meet the system requirements will receive higher marks.

Teamwork:

Students are required to work in teams of five or six.

• Students will be assigned to groups automatically and randomly. They will be informed of their group through the announced group list in the first week of the semester.
• Each student must make a clear and tangible contribution to the project and be able to answer questions related to any part of it.
• Students must work with their groups on campus for all design, modeling, control, fabrication, implementation, and testing/validation tasks. Any work to be carried out off campus requires prior written approval. Report writing, formatting, and presentation preparation are exempt from this requirement.

General Notes:

Presentations are technical assessments, not marketing pitches.

• All team members must participate in every presentation.
• Poor presentation quality can significantly reduce otherwise strong technical work.
  Submission Requirements: (Marking rubrics are shared in a separate sheet)

Progress 1: System Definition & Conceptual Design

(Deadline: Saturday, 21-02-2026, 11:59pm, on Canvas)
Required Deliverables:
Students are required to submit the following: (Items 1-11 in a PDF report and item 12 in a .PPTX PowerPoint presentation format.)

1. Team Charter

• Team roles and responsibilities, and individual contributions
• Communication plan and conflict-resolution strategy
• Expected individual contributions
  Signed commitment from all team members

2. Project Plan

• Clear problem statement and project objectives
• Scope definition and system boundaries
  Key assumptions and high-level constraints
• Risk identification at the project level

3. Gantt Chart

• Full project timeline covering all phases
• Task dependencies and milestones
  Individual task ownership, responsibility assignment for each task Alignment with submission deadlines

4. Survey of Commercial Palletizing Systems

• At least 3 existing commercial or industrial palletizing solutions Description of functionality and operating principle
• Main technical specifications: payload, workspace, speed, etc.
• Approximate pricing, application domain and target market Lessons learned and relevance to the proposed design

5. Survey of Available Design Concepts

Review of possible robot configurations
Comparison of actuation technologies (electric, pneumatic, hybrid) Advantages and disadvantages of each approach

6. Product Design Specifications (PDS)

• List of functional requirements (e.g., pick-and-place capability, pallet patterns, cycle time)
• List of performance requirements (e.g., payload, positioning accuracy, repeatability)
• List of physical constraints (e.g., tabletop footprint, height, weight limits)
• List of operational requirements (e.g., autonomy level, user interaction, startup/shutdown behavior)
• List of environmental and safety requirements (e.g., lab use, electrical safety, pneumatic safety if applicable)
• Cost and resource constraints (e.g., budget limits, available manufacturing processes)
• All specifications must be quantitative where possible, clearly testable and verifiable, and numbered and traceable to later validation tests.

7. Concept Generation

• Multiple original design concepts (minimum one design per person) Use of structured creativity and ideation tools (e.g., morphological chart, brainstorming matrix)
  Clear supporting sketches and conceptual block representations

8. Concept Selection

Defined selection criteria (performance, cost, complexity, safety, manufacturability) and weights
Weighted decision matrix and quantitative comparison

• Justification of the selected concept

9. Top-Level System Architecture Diagram

• Functional block diagram of the complete system
• Mechanical, electrical, control, and safety subsystems Clear interfaces and signal/energy flow

10. List of Sensors, Actuators, and User Inputs

• Type, function, and justification for each component
• Measurement range or operating characteristics and specifications
• Role within the system architecture

11. Preliminary Bill of Materials (BOM) 

• Major components only
• Estimated costs and suppliers
  Comment on design feasibility based on availability and budget

12. Phase-1 PowerPoint Presentation

Clear explanation of the problem, research, and concept selection Visual clarity and logical flow
Equal participation of all team members

Marking Criteria:

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