Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2006 - 34

may not notice what a dazzling achievement it is." (Barbour 2005, 36)
After testing Keystroke triggering a variety of playback and control software applications, Technical Production Associate Editor Bill Browning,
wrote in his product review in the Winter 2006 issue of Theatre Design
&Technology that "In all cases the Keystroke device performed as
expected...the device worked flawlessly with each application I tested."
(Browning 2005, 66) For the development team of eleven undergraduate
engineers, four theatre students, and the two faculty advisors, these published reviews were a gratifying cap on a three-year journey.

Not the Traditional Senior Project
Undergraduate engineering programs certified by ABET (the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) require senior students to

advised the engineers on design choices, and field- tested prototypes. In
their roles as members of the Sales and Support Department, the students delivered RAMBox products to the stage manager, installed them,
gave training in their use, and provided technical support during rehearsals. They also handled the eventual invention disclosures to the university on behalf of everyone. As a part of their course grade, the theatre
students wrote an article for the 2005 USITT Theatre Technology Exhibit
in March 2005.
The engineering students were RAMBox's Engineering Group. In the
beginning of each academic semester, they proposed technical goals and
a schedule they would be obligated to follow. They then designed and
built original analog and digital circuits as new products for the company. Near the end of a product's development, they built a rugged and
reliable prototype. The engineers' course grade was determined by their

Early circuit board.

Matt Johnson fabricates parts for RAMBox prototypes.

complete academic-year-long engineering design projects. (ABET's Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs (2006-07) articulates the
guidelines university engineering programs must meet for a favorable accreditation review.) Professor Mahan wanted to lend a sense of reality to
such a project by forming a collaboration between Electrical and Computer Engineering Students and students in the University's Theatre Program; the potential for excitement and innovation was obvious, and his
friendship with Theatre Professor Barry Cleveland created a natural
pathway. In many theatre programs, the analogous capstone activity for
senior design and technology students is to design or serve as technical
director for a realized production. The theatre students who participated
did so under a different framework for academic credit: Independent
Study, with Cleveland as their advisor.
We operated like a small, high-tech entrepreneurial company.
Mahan played the role of President/CEO, while Cleveland was Vice-President for Marketing. We called ourselves RAMBox Inc., in honor of CSU's
ram mascot.
The theatre students had two roles in RAMBox Inc. They were the
Marketing Group and the Sales and Support Department. The Marketing
Group's responsibilities were broad: they wrote product specifications,

progress in meeting the schedule and goals they had adopted.
The RAMBox project really worked. The team created four products: in addition to the PCBox, the company designed and built interfaces
to a Kodak Ektagraphic slide projector, to a High End Systems F100
Smoke Generator, and to a power outlet strip (enabling any electrical
device plugged into it to be switched on and off).
From the beginning, we were cognizant of the potential value of this
new intellectual property and were thrilled when the rights to the PCBox
was quickly licensed by Colorado State University to Rosco Laboratories.
Accordingly, royalties have been received by the university and shared
with the inventors and their home departments.

The Birth of RAMBox Inc.
Professors Mahan and Cleveland became acquainted while serving on the
board of directors of the local chapter of the Fulbright Association. At an
Association function in November 2002, they discussed the year-long senior projects required of Mahan's engineering students. "Do you think
they could come up with anything the theatre program could use?"
Mahan asked. In an e-mail to Mahan the next day, Cleveland suggested
THEATRE
SPRING

2006

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2006