Robotics Design Projects

Building the robotics foundation

Overview

Robotics design projects was established to allow for mini, self-driven projects. Students could pick from a few pre-selected projects, but groups were are allowed to propose a topic as well.

The total project length will be 6 weeks long with the goal being to build a strong foundation in robotics and a fun, cool robot. This project was introduced in the spring semester of 2022 and ran for 1 semester.

The robotics design projects aimed to bring together 2-3 students per project in order to facilitate communication and knowledge share. Each group implemented aspects of robotics such as software, electronics, project management, and more.

Featured Project

Haptic Vision Display by Joshua Summers

Haptic Vision Display, also called TouchSense is an 8x8 grid of solenoids, with each solenoid corresponding to a certain spot on a depth-sensing camera. When a close-by object appears in front of the camera, the solenoids in that region will go off and press into the user's back, letting them know where the object is. This is meant to aid people who are visually impaired.

Due to interest in continued work on the project, it was converted into a Summer Undergraduate Research Internship which is hosted by the Swanson School of Engineering. This allowed for additional funding in the development of a fully functioning prototype.

Technologies Used

The final product solenoids, N-type MOSFETS, diodes, 8-bit shift registers (74HC595), and PCBs (printed circuit boards) for the haptic feedback. The system uses a Raspberry Pi 3B+ as the brain and in order to get the depth information, an Intel Real Sense D435 Camera.

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