Interdisciplinary Design Studio: Programming Document Visioning for a Robotic Demonstration, Research, and Engagement Dairy

The 2022 COLLABORATE Design Studio brought together students from various disciplines to address a complex, real-world project which required collaborative input from different perspectives. The studio worked to advance the co-creation of knowledge between external stakeholders, students, and instructors. The course was co-taught by faculty from different disciplines, and areas of expertise. During the semester, Nate Bicak and Steven Hardy worked with students from Architecture and Interior Design in collaboration with students in Dr. Tami Brown-Brandl’s students in Biological Systems Engineering and Animal Science to explore the values, spatial qualities, and area requirements of a Robotic Demonstration, Research, and Engagement Dairy. Students organized a series of meetings and participatory activities to gather information from a range of project stakeholders including: Heather Akin (Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication), Kris Bousquet (NE Dairy Association), Paul Kononoff (Animal Science), Eric Markvicka (Mechanical and Material Engineering), Julia McQuillan (Sociology), Santosh Pitla (BioSystems and Agricultural Engineering), Ling Ling Sun (NE Public Media), and Rosanna Villa Rojas (Food Science & Technology). The information gathered helped to frame the overall problem - both quantitative and qualitative - to be addressed during the design visioning stage (not included in this document). Student contributors included: Sarah Alduaylij, Noor Al-Maamari, Devyn Beekman, Kelsey Belgum, Lauren Chubb, Nicholas Forte, Mitchell Hill, Joshua Holstein, Dylan Lambe, Phuong Le, Mia LeRiger, Elizabeth Loftus, Josh Lorenzen , Megan Lovci, Alex Martino, Zade Miller, Hannah Morgan , Annabelle Nichols , Collin Shearman, Rebecca Sowl, Nalin Theplikhith, Angela Vu, Shaylee Wagner, Ethan Watermeier, Trever Zelenk