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A race car, smart window, golf ball shooter and the bulldog bot were just a few of the technical gadgets displayed by Fresno State engineering students Saturday and Sunday at Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis.

This event, Engineers at the Mall, marked the last two days of National Engineering Week, which started last Tuesday with a club fair and continued throughout the week with guest lecturers from the engineering industry.

“At this event we’re basically showing off a bunch of the work done in the College of Engineering these past few years,â€Â said Lucas Stillmaker, president of the Engineering Student Joint Council.

The bulldog bot and small robots, called micro mice, were demonstrated by electrical engineering graduate student Tom Pittenger and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE).

“The bulldog bot has sonar sensors on it, sort of like a submarine, and hears echoes at higher frequencies then we can hear,â€Â Pittenger said. “It also has a compass and GPS and all the fancy stuff available today. The micro mice also have sensors and we actually compete with other schools by seeing which micro mouse can sense their way through a maze the fastest.â€Â

Senior electrical engineering major Cynthia Lue described some of the hands-on activities the IEEE offers such as workshops and S-Pac̢۪s, which all involve students touring and seeing what goes on behind the scenes of large corporations.

“Engineering students get the opportunity to go to local businesses like PG&E, Pelco and Grundfos and see what the rest of the public doesn’t,â€Â Lue said. “It provides exposure and hands-on experience to students so they know exactly what they are going to be doing after they graduate and go to work for a company.

“For example PG&E does more than just make house calls and fix your household wiring, they do much more with electronics before bringing them to you and we get to see the whole process.â€Â

Another project was the popular race car, showcased by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) students.

ASME chairperson and junior mechanical engineering student, Luke Clark, said the race car was built from scratch. The ASME students spent late nights constructing it in preparation for a race with other university cars at the California Speedway in Fontana. Safety was a consideration, with many regulations required of the students while they are building the car, such as a five-point harness minimum.

“Before a race starts several tests are done,â€Â Clark said. “They tilt the car at an angle, and to make sure the driver doesn’t fall out and they test the driver to see if he can get out of the vehicle in five seconds or less. Our driver got out in four.â€Â

Even though the car didn̢۪t place high due to technical difficulties, Clark was still proud of it and the three more practical products that did place. The conveyer belt the students built in their mechanical engineering 115 class won first place.

“This product resembles the Valley, which has an extensive meat packing and food processing business,â€Â Clark said.

The second place winner was the smart window, which calculates the temperatures in the home and outside and depending on settings will close and open automatically. It also closes when it senses rain moisture.

“This window could be mass marketed and save consumers a lot of money on energy bills,â€Â Clark said.

Third place was the hyped GPS blimp which Clark admitted he thought would place higher but didn̢۪t because of weather problems.

“The slightest wind would blow the blimp off course because it is so light,â€Â Clark said.

ASME and IEEE worked together to execute the projects, which Clark said ASME builds and IEEE brings to life.

However, there is one downside about the College of Engineering – a lack of students.

“We have a great hands-on [Valley internship program] which I am a part of,â€Â Clark said. “These are six month back-to-back paid internships available to engineering students and are good avenues to take to learn about engineering disciplines with a particular company in the Central Valley. There are many companies involved and more want to join. The problem is we don’t have enough students to fill the 30 or so positions we already have.

“This is why we’re here today, to demonstrate to possible future students that although engineering is difficult, that it is fun and that you can learn a lot.â€Â