The initial purpose of this project was to build instrumentation, develop software and aerodynamic activities for use with the Baals Wind Tunnel in fullfillment of Master's degree requirements for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University. This was achieved with the cooperation of the Center for Engineering Educational Outreach (CEEO) at Tufts University in 1998-99 by Regina C. Instrumentation for the tunnel includes a force balance and wind speed control. Both are made of LEGO bricks, gears, micro-motors and sensors. The force balance measures lift and drag with an interactive control of pitch angle. The user sets the wind speed control interactively, setting the speed of the tunnel fan to low, medium and high. The control software, which includes a calibration routine for the force balance, combined with the force balance and wind speed control provides students with an interactive hands-on learning experience in aerodynamics. Aeronautic activities developed for grades 7 through 12 use the wind tunnel as a tool for exploration. These activities include exploring the relationship between lift and drag, plotting airfoils, streamlining models, and collecting and reducing data for comparison.

The Baals wind tunnel, designed by NASA Engineer Donald D. Baals, is a 4-foot long open loop or suction wind tunnel made from wood, Plexiglas, metal and fiberglass. The wind tunnel was built at Tufts University several years ago through the local AIAA section. A description of the wind tunnel as well as building instructions can be found in the Baals wind tunnel section of this website. The Baals wind tunnel is used for this project because it is simple, it is easy to build and operate, it is low cost and it produces a good average airspeed through the test section for classroom demonstration.

The latest revisions to this website were developed in the framework of an undergraduate research project in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Tufts University in spring 2004 by Corentin Richard. These revisions include new control software for ROBOLAB 2 as well as information and data of velocity mapping in the wind tunnel's vertical plan.