Re: final project ideas
Here are some valuable tips.
Don't get too ambitious in selecting a project. Select one which is practical & achievable within deadline. Don't try to get only software or hardware only involved as a combination of both will really make an impact in future interviews.
Complexity of project doesn't matter, what matters is how much do you know about your project. Successfully building something huge, but now knowing it completely results in bad impression in future.
Regarding ideas, I would say if you are really not interested in soldering & pcb designing stuff, then get ready made kits. Study them hard & then build something from them. That will not only increase you knowledge but also will reduce you work.
If you want to do something with VLSI, then you can build a Graphics LCD controller based on FPGA. Terasic technologies offers kits for Cyclone FPGA DE-1 & a graphics LCD which is compatible. You can then write codes to display TV on LCD screen or display GIF files from PC. Visit
www.altera.com and find partner development kits for more details.
In robotics you can build a robotic arm which can be speech controlled, or a camera based robot where robot follow a particular object.
www.imagesco.com
If you are from India, tell me I can help you with robotics parts from about site as I work for them.
In both of above case, theory to be referred is only 1 or 2 books, ready made kits are available.
Take it from me, I couldn't finish my project in time as I was too ambitious & dropped the idea of using kits initially.
Bigaussie