Will this be on the final?

Apparently university’s not just about keggers and scoring anymore.

Homework is not meant to be comfortable.

But one British professor's efforts to get his students to create fully operational torture devices has even some of his colleagues wincing.

Students at Kent University School of Architecture in southeast England were asked to manufacture the devices as part of an attempt to sensitize them to the principals of ergonomics - the science of reducing fatigue and discomfort.

How would you assign the marking protocol for this assignment? Does your grade go up with the amount of pain that's caused? Is creativity taken into account? And would death be considered an “A” or a failure? This is how my brain works ... scared yet?

The copy of the assignment on the website showed a diagram of a Gestapo electric torture table and invited students to "look at the dark side of ergonomics."

"Proposals have to be realizable in 2008.... No Sci-Fi devices please," the assignment said. "It has to be fit for purpose, robust and effective and well thought out; it has to work."

The assignment suggested using recycled material. It also warned against careless use of electricity. "We don't want you to become a victim of your own device," it said.

At least they’re taking an environmentally sound approach.