Site has been booked marked. Thank you.
I have talked to two people in the school outside of the project group/advisers. They both know their stuff. One teaches machine design and the other is a electrical tech. Both told me more or less that the expectations of the project are high given the amount of money. The tech said go ahead and design to the expectations of the 'customer'. Then spec each piece of equipment according to what we come up with. The price can then be asset and then the customer can either give a thumbs up and pay or scrap the project.
I have little experience as I am just a 5th year ME, but I would say something like this would be 1500-2000$ minimum.