Engineering projects provide excellent avenues for professional growth, whether you want to enter the tech arena as an employee or an entrepreneur. We have compiled a list of the most popular topics to guide your search.
Tips for Selecting Project Work
Before you dive into a particular project topic, spend some time charting out the fundamentals. Here is a summary of the steps you must follow during the ideation, implementation, and post-completion phases.
- Explore your interest areas.
- Identify a real-life problem.
- Devise a solution with your project idea.
- Gather quality resources and read research papers.
- Choose mentors and team collaborators.
- Develop an execution plan.
- Monitor and analyze progress at every stage.
- Document and present your project.
Top 10 Engineering Projects in 2023
1. Electronics
Electronics projects deal with circuits, resistors, microcontrollers, etc. You can find many examples of electronic appliances that are integrated with emerging technology features. For instance, you may come across a speed detecting device that flashes a laser beam when a vehicle exceeds the predetermined limit. Or a device that can track electricity usage and send updates to your smartphone via SMS. If you are into data authentication, you can build a biometric system that confirms user IDs based on their fingerprint.
You can also choose a topic depending upon the industry or sector, such as:
- Agriculture: Powered tiller and weeder for farms; Android-based monitoring device for greenhouse environments; tracking system for solar panels.
- Biomedical: Heart rate and temperature monitoring device for patients; Bluetooth or WiFi transmission device for ECG signals.
- Spatial/Locational: Arduino-based GPS tracker; remotely operated vehicles.
- Home assistance: Door locking system through password mechanism; home appliances Control through a smartphone; water level indicators for tanks.
2. Mechanical
These projects span across automation, mechatronics, and robotics, sometimes requiring cross-disciplinary knowledge. You can discover standard applications in the following areas:
- Energy and Environment: Wind and solar power charging station, Food shredder compost machine.
- Home appliances: Air purifier and humidifier; solar water heater; mattress deep cleaning device.
- Manufacturing: Wireless material handling system; automatic hydraulic jack; automobile prototyping.
- Ecommerce: Automatic sorting system using images; theft-proof delivery robot.
Additionally, you can delve into the world of three-dimensional objects and computer-aided design with 3D printers. Building a 3D printer from scratch will bring a practical dimension to your knowledge of additive manufacturing, CAD models, RAMPS Boards, SMPS and Motor Drivers, Arduino Programming, etc.
3. Robotics
Robotics is a multidisciplinary field specializing in electronics, mechanical engineering, and artificial intelligence technologies. It is expected to transform lives and how we work in the recent future. To stay one step ahead of the change, you can try out any of the following project ideas and master different robotics skills.
- Surveillance robot that captures live video footage and transmits to remote locations over the internet.
- Mobile-controlled robotic arm with multiple degrees of freedom.
- A voice-controlled robot that uses speech recognition, android app development, Bluetooth communication, and Arduino programming to perform specific tasks.
- An intelligent robot that can solve a problem, such as come out of a maze puzzle.
- A fire-fighting robot, equipped with digital IR sensors and a DC fan, detects the fire and moves to put it off.
4. Machine Learning
Machine Learning (ML) projects can help you gain conceptual clarity and hands-on experience in applying Mean Squared Error Function, Update Function, Linear Regression, Gaussian Naive Bayes Algorithm, Confusion Matrix, Tensor Flow & Keras Libraries, Clustering, among other things.
- Sentiment analysis (using text mining and computational linguistics) to uncover customer options and market trends.
- Credit Card fraud detection project using ML algorithms and Python language.
- A recommendation engine that suggests movie titles based on a user’s viewing history.
- Handwritten digit organizer that applies deep learning like convolutional neural networks.
5. Data Science and Analytics
Budding data scientists can choose from various projects and tutorials to learn web scraping, data cleaning, exploratory data analysis or EDA, data visualization, etc.
Below are some examples:
- Web scraping project uses Scrapy or Beautiful Soup to crawl public data sets on the internet for relevant insights.
- Data scrubbing project that introduces you to the fundamentals of removing incorrect and duplicate data, managing gaps, and ensuring consistent formatting.
- EDA project where you ask questions about the data, discover its underlying structure, look for patterns and anomalies, test hypotheses, validate assumptions, and so on.
- A visualization and manipulation project using R and its various packages.
6. Computer Vision
Computer Vision is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence, encompassing object recognition, image processing, facial recognition, among other things. You can develop a text scanner with optical character recognition capabilities and display the text on a screen. Or build an intelligent selfie device that takes snaps when you smile and stores them on your smartphone.
Free tools like Lobe can help you select the right architecture for Computer Vision projects involving image classification. Once you have trained the model, deploying it on a website only takes a few simple steps.
7. Internet of Things (IoT)
Budding software professionals can implement several projects to gain familiarity with IoT concepts and applications, Arduino architecture and programming, interfacing and calibrating sensors, and integration of cloud platforms.
Consider these two examples:
- Smart Building Project: You can develop a system that senses the number of occupants to switch the lights on or off automatically. You can further analyze the usage of rooms, occupancy at different times of the day, and the total power consumed.
- Automated Street Lighting: Here, you build a public street lighting system capable of adjusting according to the amount of sunlight present. It is an energy-efficient solution that sends data to a cloud for storage and analysis.
8. Python Projects
Python has extensive use cases spanning web development, data science, and machine learning. Beginner programmers can hone their python language skills with the following project ideas:
- QR code generation encodes data like contact details, YouTube links, app download links, digital transaction details, etc.
- GUI application using Tkinter that you can use to generate the calendar for any year.
- An application that converts images into pencil sketches with the aid of the OpenCV library.
9. Android App Projects
As advanced mobile technologies gain prominence across global markets, Android app development is necessary from a tech career perspective. Engineering projects can bring you up to speed with Java, Firebase, networking basics, and the launch process on Playstore. You can start your quest with any of these platforms.
- Flutter Project: Learn to build apps for authentication activities using the Dart programming language.
- Android Studio Project: Try your hand at creating online stores, fitness apps, social media apps, etc.
10. Cloud Computing
The possibilities for cloud computing projects are endless: Bring software development and IT operations together with a DevOps project, or host static websites on the Amazon Web Service (AWS) or Azure platforms. With regular practice, you can move on to building dynamic websites and go serverless with your applications and services. Since cloud computing is among India’s leading technology skills, pursuing project work on this topic will give you an edge in job applications as well.
Other Engineering Projects
Civil engineers and architects can also utilize projects to combine domain knowledge with smart technologies and project management tools. Such projects typically train you in 3D modeling, rendering techniques, critical path method, project budgeting techniques, etc.
Learn Software Development Courses online from the World’s top Universities. Earn Executive PG Programs, Advanced Certificate Programs or Masters Programs to fast-track your career.
Wrapping up
With this, we have compiled some exciting engineering projects for you to try. You can consider upskilling with upGrad’s online courses and implement industry projects and build a stellar portfolio to differentiate yourself from the competition. For instance, Fullstack Development Program from Purdue University is an excellent choice for candidates who wish to master the nitty-gritty of full-stack development and build complete applications.
Don’t wait. Pick the right program and start your learning journey today!
Why is project work important for engineering students?
Project work refines students’ problem-solving, organisational, and time management skills as it demands a hands-on approach. Typically, engineering candidates have to undertake projects in their final year to earn the necessary credits. However, young professionals looking to advance their careers can also utilise projects to showcase their technical skills to prospective employers.
What are the most popular engineering project topics in 2021?
From machine learning and robotics to python and analytics, a wide range of project topics are available for aspirants today. Most of the instructions and documentation can be accessed from open-source online platforms and replicated for building specific technical skill sets.
How do engineering projects increase employability?
Engineering projects are usually based on current, real-life problems. Organisations need people who are familiar with the industry trends. While implementing a project, you get to research your topic extensively and also understand the future scope of a subject area. Such insights are highly valuable from an employers’ perspective. Moreover, project portfolios add a touch of professionalism to your overall profile.
