The client: A furry, 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix with a hankering for hot dogs and little ability to communicate beyond a bark.
The assignment for a group of UW-Madison students: Find a way for this two-legged dog to walk more easily.
An introductory engineering design course that has been around since the 1990s connects people (or pets) who have real-life problems with College of Engineering students assigned to solve them, according to lecturer Katie Kalscheur.
That’s how Madison residents Pete and Pat Sammataro found themselves on UW-Madison’s campus in early September introducing a group of first-year engineering students to their dog, Louie.