We will spend some time looking into emerging trends in search of project ideas, and some possible projects and directions will be proposed, but it is not the responsibility of the instructor to assign projects. Part of the work involved is to identify your own projects.
The class is graded pass/fail (this is a requirement for a 198, apparently). So your grade is not a central target here. What can you hope to get from the class? This is for people who have a genuine interest in the material, a desire to do some hands-on work, and a desire to learn what kinds of opportunities are available for further studies, such as in graduate school. What kinds of rewards can you hope for? You get experience in doing projects and research. A good performance in this class can lead to a good letter of recommendation from the instructor for graduate school, and very good projects could result in publications.