Senior Design Projects 2018
Juan Estrella works on Midi Controller with Touch Interface and Pressure Sensitivity, his senior design project in audio and music engineering. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)
AUDIO AND MUSIC ENGINEERING
Voice-activated Speaker
Isaac Mosebrook
Voice control is becoming a prominent feature in many modern products and applications, and controlling a speaker with your speech is just one of these applications. This device captures audio data, analyzes its features, and determines what keyword was spoken with a neural network.
Supervisor: David Anderson
Indoor Auditory Masking System
Primary Department/Major
Anzhi Li, Yang Lu
We built an indoor noise masking system based on the theory of auditory masking. The system will be able to identify the different kinds of indoor noises and generate effective masking tone to mask out the noise and provide a relatively quiet indoor environment.
Supervisor: David Anderson
Gesture Tracking MIDI Controller
Kurt Shuizening Li
The Gesture Tracking MIDI Controller uses infrared distance sensors to detect hand gestures and send MIDI messages to control various parameters of virtual instruments in a DAW.
Supervisor: David Anderson
Acoustic Enhancement System
Erik Nunez
Using a combination of multi-channel reverberation, equalization and filtering to enhance live performances in campus buildings.
Supervisor: David Anderson, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Retractable Ultrathin Schroeder Diffuser
Sam Mullen, David Chavera
This project aims to create two sound diffusers based around two troubled frequencies in a music practice room on campus. It follows a relatively new ultrathin model to liven sound in the room
Supervisor: Professor David Anderson
David Kunstmann, Alin Kenworthy
This project is a real time polyphonic purchshifter which allows the user to add various harmonies to a live input signal.
Supervisor: David Anderson
Sound Deceleration and Acoustic Absorption Towards Building a "Flute Mute"
Ayumi Yuasa
With the goal towards creating a prototype that helps lower the volume of flute playing for practice and orchestral purposes, my project focused on implementing ways to decelerate and absorb sound waves in the flute headjoint (the primary audio source of the flute). Various designs were made to analyze how wall thickness and helical designs affected acoustic absorption and sound deceleration respectively using CAD software program "Siemens NX". The sound level results from each note of the chromatic scale using the final four designs were measured using an SPL meter.
Supervisors: Dave Anderson (ECE Assistant Professor), Dan Phinney (AME/ECE Senior Design Advisor), Jim Butler (LLE)
Steven Belitzky, Christopher Palace, Albert Peyton
Developed an algorithm that utilizes beat tracking and pitch detection to generate a hip hop beat out of a recorded sample.
Supervisor: Dave Anderson
Pitch shifting synthesizer
Alin Kenworthy, David kunstmann
The project focuses on the methods by which an audio signal can be re pitched based on user input
Team Members
Midi Controller with Touch Interface and Pressure Sensitivity
Juan Estrella
A pressure sensitive midi controller with 96 keys, that triggers notes by skin conduction between two copper pads
Supervisor: Professor David Anderson
Flat Panel Guitar Amplifier
Jillian Donahue
A flat-panel speaker, otherwise known as a distributed mode loudspeaker (DML), is a speaker where specifically placed drivers distribute vibrations across the panel in modes in order to produce sound. This technology will be employed in a guitar amplifier.
Supervisor: David Anderson
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Sue Zhang and Matt Boulanger work Dia-Beat-It, a portable, point of care screening device for type 2 diabetes, to test South Pacific islands in Micronesia, where the disease is rampant. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)
Dia-Beat-It
A point of care screening device for type 2 diabetes
Supervisor: Ed Brown, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Dr. Tim Dye, Obstetrics and Gynecology, UR Medical Center
Diffuse Optics Team
Hunsak (Stefan) Ha, Shenglin Liu, Ziping Liu
A system to apply diffuse optical imaging to monitor fracture healing in the foot.
Supervisor: Hani Awad, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering.
Customer: Regine Choe, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering
The ThighCyclers
Erik Backstrom, Kelly Tighe, Kyle Ruffner, Iain Wright
An accessory device for adaptive cycles to promote safer, more comfortable rides for individuals with leg weakness due to stroke, TBI or other medical conditions.
Supervisor: Catherine Kuo, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Anita O'Brien, Executive Director, Rochester Accessible Adventures
TouchStream Seizure Detection
Icxel Valeriano, Hetince Zhao, Jingxia He, Michiko Feehan
The design of an algorithm capable of detecting seizure onset, duration, and severity.
Supervisor: Diane Dalecki, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Joel Benzel, CEO & Founder, Touchstream
C-Arm X-Ray Improvements in the OR
Shuang Grace Chang, Harshita Narang, Chi Huang, Emily Grey
Improved C-Arm X-Ray machines for neurosurgeries.
Supervisor: John-Hoon Nam, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Dr. Yan Michael Li, Department of Neurosurgery & Oncology, UR Medical Center
Guiding US IV
Veronica Valencerina, Kwasi Nimako, Kate Bushway, Anisha Khosla
A device to aid in the Ultrasound IV insertion process in an emergency room setting
Supervisor: Steve McAleavey, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Michael Bux, UR Medical Center, MD Candidate
Primary Department/Major
Ramel Morales, Sam Kann, Corrine Kennedy, Andrew Holloman
To monitor areas at high risk of spreading tuberculosis bacteria, our device detects the concentration of airborne tuberculosis, thus indicating locations where attention should be directed.
Supervisor: James McGrath, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Dr. Arnulfo Torres, Rochester TB Clinic
The Listen'Ears
Primary Department/Major
Arushi Jain, Jacques Kouevi, Jeremy Deniega, Salah Mahmoudi
Using modern technology to analyze brain-ear interfaces to help you listen to what really matters
Team Members
Supervisor: Ross Maddox, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Sridhar Kalluri, Ph.D., Researcher at The Starkey Hearing Research Center
Saccadic Adaptation
Nicholas Boldt, Daniela Burnes Vargas, Emily Palacio, Sang Curtis Park
A Saccadic Adaptation task that can be done at home.
Supervisor: Anne Luebke, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Dr. Ed Freedman, Department of Neurosciences, UR Medical Center
Wheelchair Improvements
Hye Mi Abby Kim, Harrah Newman, Zijie James Sha, Alexandra Wolkoff, Michael Zhang
Create a mechanism to enable wheelchair users improved ability to access their belongings.
Supervisor: Scott Seidman, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Jennifer Lowell, Lifetime Assistance
Advancement of Breast Pump Accessibility
Renee Brigham, Katelyn Offerdahl, Helen Yang and Rachel Larkin
Working towards improving access to breastfeeding education and resources for mothers of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Supervisor: Anne Luebke, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Dr. Casey Rosen-Carole, Pediatrics, UR Medical Center, Breast Milk Management
Rosemary Buckley, 5, daughter of Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Mark Buckley (second from left with his other daughter Louisa, 3), operates an early childhood mobility device — the senior design project of University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering students Devon Foggio (left), Joe Cappotelli (third from right), Jennifer Choi (second from right), and Dan Myers (at right), during a test run in Goergen Hall. (Photos by J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester)
Early Mobility for Kids
The creation of an early mobility system for children with developmental disabilities.
Supervisor: Mark Buckley, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Leah Talbot, PT, PCS, Roosevelt Children's Hospital
Polymer Surface Modification to augment VITROS® MicroWell Technology
Alessandro Del Priore, Jingyi Lori Fan, Geoffrey Rouin
Polymer to enhance capture molecule binding on MicroWell surface for increased assay sensitivity.
Supervisor: Kanika Vats, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Andrew Kirsch, Department of Program Management, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
Eva (Mollie) Hansen, MaryAnne Achieng, Huy Nguyen, Xuan (Monica) Sun
Designing a system to separate plasma from whole blood patient samples in less time than centrifugation for Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.
Supervisor: Dean Johnson, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Andrew Kirsch, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
Anna Hrbac, Christian Keenan, Jake Krapf, Anyah Wright
A device or system that will be used to aid surgeons with various hearing abilities while operating on patients.
Supervisor: Ed Lalor, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Ian DeAndrea-Lazarus, School of Medicine and Dentistry, UR Medical Center
Raymond Chin, Tianyu (Gary) Wu, Anli Lin, Alexander Strand
Developing an improved method of diagnosing TB using PPD.
Supervisor: Regine Choe, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Dr. Arnulfo Torres, Rochester TB Clinic
Moh's Surgery Teaching Tool
Ryan Bowen, Mackenzie Harris, Jason Kim
A device for dermatology residents to practice planning facial skin reconstruction.
Supervisor: Amy Lerner, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Dr. Bill Sipprell and Jason Mathis, Dermatology, UR Medical Center
Hong Chen, Julia Herman, Hyunwoo Kim
To assist nurses and reduce human errors by hospital bedsides related to IV tube connections
Supervisors: Laurel H. Carney, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
Customer: Karen Fellows, Senior Principal Systems Engineer, Baxter Healthcare Corporation
CENTER FOR MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
CompreSure's Compressive Intramedullary Rod (CIMR) System
Alyssa Lopez, Gregory Dadourian, Meghann Meyer
A new implant that allows for minimally invasive fracture fixation and compression of breaks located in the humerus. Our novel technology utilizes controlled compression of the fracture site to promote faster and stronger bone healing, which leads to improved patient recovery.
Supervisors: Greg Gdowski, CMTI; Amy Lerner, Ph.D., CMTI; Martin Gira, Senior Research Engineer, UR Medical Center
Customer: Dr. John Gorczyca, Orthopaedics, UR Medical Center; Dr. Dave Ciufo, Orthopaedics, UR Medical Center
Aortic Wall Exposure
Connor McBride, Emily Newman, Josh Schum-Houck
Our device will be used during minimally invasive aortic valve replacement surgeries to aid in the exposure of the aortic valve tissue area and allows for easier implantation of the replacement valve. This improvement will make performing minimally invasive surgeries more accessible to surgeons.
Supervisors: Greg Gdowski, Ph.D., CMTI; Amy Lerner, Ph.D., CMTI; Martin Gira, Senior Research Engineer, UR Medical Center
Customer: Dr. Spencer Rosero, Cardiovascular, UR Medical Center; Dr. Peter Knight, Cardiovascular, UR Medical Center; Dr. Bryan Barrus, Cardiovascular, UR Medical Center
Improving Radiation Safety for Surgical Staff and Operators
James Melton, Justin Schumacher, Raiem Smith
A way to improve radiation safety protection during endovascular procedures in order to reduce harmful and unnecessary radiation exposure.
Supervisors: Greg Gdowski, Ph.D., CMTI, Amy Lerner, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering/CMTI, Martin Gira, Senior Research Engineer, UR Medical Center
Customer: Dr. Michal Stoner, Vascular Surgery, UR Medical Center, Dr. Spencer Rosero, Cardiology, UR Medical Center, Mr. Adam Doyle, Cardiology, UR Medical Center
Dural Safe Bone Removal
Amanda Smith, Evan Sosnow, Rebecca Amorese
A way to enable the surgeon to use both hands on the Kerrison Rongeur while simultaneously cutting, removing and collecting targeted bone segment during lumbar decompressions in order for the surgeon to safely and effectively carry out the procedure.
Supervisors: Greg Gdowski, Ph.D., CMTI, Amy Lerner, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering/CMTI, Martin Gira, Senior Research Engineer, UR Medical Center
Customer: Dr. Addisu Mesfin, Orthopaedics, UR Medical Center, Dr. Gorczyca, Orhtopaedics, UR Medical Center
Quick and Repeatable Ultrasound Imaging during CPR
Eric Ravinal and Vladimir Tokarchuk
A way to reduce the time needed to find the right ultrasound image in cardiac arrest patients, in order to minimize the time that the patient's brain is not receiving oxygenated blood.
Supervisors: Greg Gdowski, Ph.D., CMTI, Amy Lerner, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering/CMTI, Martin Gira, Senior Research Engineer, UR Medical Center
Customers: Dr. Lu, Emergency Medicine, UR Medical Center, Dr, Miglani, Emergency Medicine, UR Medical Center, Dr. O'Connor, Emergency Medicine, UR Medical Center, Dr. Spencer Rosero, Cardiology, UR Medical Center
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Process Control with Significant Time Delays
Saifeddin Abdalrahman, Mengyi (Crystal) Lei, Yifei (Susie) Yan, Yuxuan (Dan) Zhu
A system was built which has significant time delays in response measurement to study the efficacy of using the Smith Predictor to compensate for the time delay in controlling a process. A mathematical model that simulates the actual process was derived from analyzing the response data. The Smith Predictor was programed in LabVIEW with a PID controller and then tuned to optimize system stability.
Supervisors: Prof. Eldred Chimowitz and Prof. Doug Kelley
Customer: ChE Undergraduate Lab
Alessandra Sauro, Alexander Kaufman, Emily Volk, Tae Ryoo
This project sought to help ORAFOL improve the uniformity of their electroformed reflective materials and subsequently reduce their required grinding time. Trials were conducted to test the "Mandrel-in-Motion" theory, which hypothesizes that movement of the mandrel during the electroforming process will sufficiently disturb the ion transfer by rapidly changing the electric field lines, resulting in a more uniform thickness. The project involved meaningful design of experiments, characterization of a motor and rotating arm system, and methods to estimate fluid velocity.
Supervisors: Mr. Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions, and Rachel Monfredo, CHE Department
Customer: Mr. Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions
FaFactors Influencing the Injection Molding of Isoplast® 302 EZ Resin
Seth Edwards, Claire Evans, Collin Larkin, Amelia Moriarity
Harbec Inc. uses Lubrizol Isoplast® 302 EZ resin to extrude into fuel filter caps, but noticed that some batches had higher rejection rates than others. Our charge was to find a way to differentiate “good” and “bad” lots of resin prior to drying and extrusion. Through a series of tests, we were able to produce the promising results that the “good” resin may contain more elemental tin, which could act as a stabilizer that reduces the lot’s rejection rate, in addition to the fact that COA analysis showed that there is a correlation between melt flow rate and rejection rate.
Supervisors: John Hoefen, Harbec Inc. and Prof. Doug Kelley, CHE Department
Customer: John Hoefen, Harbec Inc.
Molding of Integrated Biochar and Polymer using an Injection Molder
Seung Hun (Kevin) Jung, Zongru (Lee) Li, Venice Magunga, Solange Munezero
Optimal conditions were sought to mold softwood Biochar with different polymers such as polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene and polystyrene crystal using Morgan Press G-100T heat injection molder. Mechanical testing of Biochar-polymer composites (hardness, tensile, fracture surface and cross sectional area) was performed to analyze the material properties for each sample. Results showed no trend for hardness and tensile testing.
Supervisors: Kathleen Draper, Biochar Journal and Cindy Fitzgerald, CHE Department
Customer: Kathleen Draper, Biochar Journal
REASSEMBLY AND ANALYSIS OF CONTINUOUS-FLOW BIOCHAR RETORT
Tomotaka Endo, Julie Hartman, Unni Kurumbail, Amelia Petrosino
A prototype for a small-scale continuous-flow Biochar retort was reassembled and tested. The retort, designed by Andrew Wells, takes wood chips and converts them into Biochar via a pyrolysis process at temperatures exceeding 350 Celsius. The project aimed to reassemble, run, and characterize the reactor, in order to improve its efficiency in the production of Biochar.
Supervisors: Andrew Wells, Acorn Biochar and Mark Juba, CHE Department
Customer: Andrew Wells, Acorn Biochar
Water Recycling Designs For Guardian Glass
Nawaf Alhowaish, Yijin Li, Guansu (Francis) Niu, Yixuan (Stefan) Zhang
Team FETA worked with Guardian Glass in Geneva, NY aiming to recycle at least 50% of the wastewater from their water system. Thorough analysis including water system investigation, wastewater testing, and cost analysis were conducted. The team proposed three designs with recovery rates higher than 50% with reasonable payback periods as well as suggestions for future work.
Supervisors: Corey Rapp, Guardian Insustries and Mark Juba, CHE Department
Customer: Corey Rapp and Michael Watters, Guardian Industries
Laboratory-Scale Reaction Injection Molding of a Shape Memory Polymer
Gabrielle Dimoff, Akif Hosain, Monica Perrone, Greg Sheppard
A proposed method of producing shape memory polymers is reaction injection molding (RIM), a manufacturing process in which liquid reagents are injected into a mold where a curing reaction takes place forming thermosetting polymer. After an assessment of the RIM machine revealed safety concerns and damaged equipment, the safety concerns were mitigated and much of the damaged equipment replaced. Heating experiment controlled by our own LabVIEW code were conducted, and suggestions were made on how modify the current set up to make it more suitable for the desired RIM process.
Supervisors: Prof. Mitchell Anthamatten, Prof. Doug Kelley and Cindy Fitzgerald CHE Department
Customer: Prof. Mitchell Anthamatten, CHE Department
Design of Sublimation Procedures for OLED Chemicals
Rui Gao, Hyojeong (Annie) Lee, John Kim, Rafael Muchanga, Jr.
Team Gouda designed a scale-up protocol to allow the company, Molecular Glasses, to achieve more affordable and effective organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) purification via train sublimation. The validity of applying the Langmuir Evaporation Model to the sublimation of solids was tested using the two model compounds—anthracene and tri-p-tolylamine—that are widely used in OLED fabrication. Based on the team’s experimental results, it was determined that the model works for both solid model compounds when a correction factor is taken into account.
Supervisors: Mark Juba, Molecular Glasses and CHE Department
Customer: Mark Juba, Molecular Glasses
Temperature and Humidity Control System for Characterization of a Fuel Cell
Andrew Golembeski, Haberly Kahn, Ariel Lighty, Nola Yang
A new 4-cell fuel cell was assembled and a temperature and humidity controlled chamber was designed, manufactured, and controlled to enable CHE lab students to examine these effects on a fuel cell's performance. Temperature is controlled with both a Peltier-cooling module and two cartridge heaters. A solenoid valve inputting either dry or humidified air regulates the relative humidity. Using proportional-integral feedback control for the heaters and cooler, temperature is controlled between 20 and 60˚C within ±0.2˚ C, and relative humidity between 20 and 60% within ±1%.
Supervisors: Thor Olsen and Cindy Fitzgerald, CHE Department
Customer: CHE Department Undergraduate Lab
REDUCING BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND IN ORAFOL’S WASTEWATER
Charlotte Caldwell, Chiamaka Alozie, Ellison Entier, Mark Sweeney
Team Limburger worked to reduce the biological oxygen demand in Orafol's wastewater due to its negative effects on the environment and the surcharge from Monroe County. This included testing two types of treatments- biological and chemical. Weekly biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand were run, and showed significant promise that merit future study of both the biological and chemical treatment options.
Supervisors: Mr. Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions, and Rachel Monfredo, CHE Department
Customer: Mr. Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions
OROFOL Wastewater Treatment Process Characterization
Alexander DiPerna, Janson Ho, Devin Sonne, Michelle Trojan
A lab scale model was developed to study parameters affecting the ORAFOL wastewater treatment process. Trends were observed with pH, flocculent, and reagent concentrations on nickel concentration in treated water. SEM and FTIR also demonstrated differences in precipitate composition and structure.
Supervisors: Mr. Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions, and Cindy Fitzgerald, CHE Department
Customer: Mr. Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions
Maintenance Control and Testing of Legionella in Cooling Towers
Austin Abel, Joseph Frevele, Anna Kopp, Marina Morrow, Johanna Marie Oasan
This project involved collaboration with Harbec, Inc. to evaluate the efficacy of implementing a UV filtration system to eliminate bacteria by modeling their cooling tower system. The mock filtration system built used Genesee River water and the quantity of bacteria was evaluated using dip slides. It was determined that UV filtration reduced the quantity of total bacteria in water when compared to a control.
Supervisors: Jeff Eisenhauer, Harbec,Inc. and Rachel Monfredo, CHE Department
Customer: Jeff Eisenhauer, Harbec,Inc.
Investigation of Oxygen Mass Transfer Rate in Viscous Fluids
Mohammad Almagweshi, Jordan Mukisa, Weijing (Penny) Xu, Yang (Sophie) Xue
Understanding oxygen mass transfer rate (OTR) is an essential concept in the mixing industry. SPXFlow is interested in knowing the viability of the Excess Sulfite Method in determining the OTR in highly viscous fluids as such corn syrup. The team found that though the method was efficient in water, it was limited in corn syrup, and alternative approaches were suggested.
Supervisors: Mr. Kevin Logsdon, SPXFlow and Prof. David Foster, CHE Department
Customer: Mr. Kevin Logsdon, SPXFlow
Making the Unsteady State Mixing Problem a Reality
Luke Dengler, Dominic Giambra, Sarah Lanzafame, Haley Miyaoka
Team Romano designed and constructed a lab module for use in the University of Rochester Chemical Engineering Department. The unsteady-state salt mixing lab is designed to demonstrate a common Fluid Dynamics mixing problem. This hands on experience aims to help with a fundamental understanding of a conceptually challenging problem.
Supervisor: Prof. David Foster, CHE Department
Customer: Prof. David Foster, CHE Department for use in Fluid Dynamics
Optimization and Characterization of Biochar-Polystyrene Composite
Charlotte Berg, Callum Breene, Nisha Divan, Benjamin Gleed
The objective was to optimize a process for creating a composite of Biochar and expanded polystyrene for use as a building material in developing countries. Improvements made to the original process included a solvent change, Biochar grinding and sieving automation, and a vacuum pump addition to degas samples. It was observed that samples contained void spaces, were hydrophilic, and that increasing toluene concentration both lowered a sample’s glass transition temperature and decreased mechanical strength –important characteristics when deciding on potential applications.
Supervisors: Kathleen Draper, Biochar Journal and Rachel Monfredo, CHE Department
Customer: Kathleen Draper, Biochar Journal
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Blob-bot: A Robotic Amoeba
The students of CSC 230, "Robot Construction"
We present the design, construction and control of a novel robot platform consisting of a flexible icosahedral shell animated by 30 linear actuators co-incident with the polyhedral edges.
Supervisor: Prof. Randal C. Nelson
DATA SCIENCE
Data Science Capstone Project
Fuya Xu, Yadong Wei, Yuxuan Cui, Zihan Qi
Founded in 1971, Paychex is committed to providing payroll, human resource and benefits
outsourcing services for small- to medium-sized business and it has become one of the largest
provider of HR services supporting more than 1 million worksite employees.
To develop marketing strategies that enable the company to better target potential customers and
recommend products more efficiently, we implemented statistical methods and discovered
correlation relationships among products in the PayChex transactional records.
Supervisor: Ajay Anand
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Controlled Labyrinth
Yukun Chen, Wentao Hu, Zixiang Liu, Zhongyuan Lu
Controlled labyrinth is a platform to balance a metal ball using servo control. By rotating the labyrinth platform, the ball is able to move on the platform without human interaction. The iphone app allow user to take picture of a hand-painted labyrinth, and it has the power to compute the solution and demo route on the platform automatically.
Supervisors: Prof. Victor V. Derefinko, Prof. Jack G. Mottley
Relative Position Locator
Abigail Eberts, Christopher Granata, Brianna Herron, Natalie Jara, Steffen Jensen
A common issue among first responders is the inability to locate teammates in emergency situations (i.e. firefighter finding their partner in a burning building). Our project solves this problem, using a radio, trilateration calculations, RSSI values, and compass headings simultaneously to calculate the position of a teammate relative the the user. The first responder will be able to identify where the teammate is using an LED ring-- the location of the LED provides the direction of the teammate relative to you along with a color to identify approximate distance.
Supervisors: Victor Derefinko (ECE Professor), Jack Mottley (ECE Professor), Keith Kripp (Harris Engineer)
Smart Garage Parking System
Meixiao Han, Ruoxue Zhang, Junyi Shen, Yiming Yang
Smart Garage Parking System aims to automatically park a car model into a two-space garage. By pressing a button, the user can choose which spot to park when the garage is entirely empty. Otherwise, the car will park into the empty spot if there is a car already inside.
Supervisors: Victor Derefinko, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UR, Jack Mottley, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UR
Customer: Jose Salazar, Software Engineer, Harris Corporation, Rochester
Riley Phelps, Nicholas Weinstein, Adam Stenson
Sensor network that tracks movement between rooms and adjusts audio volumes accordingly to give the consumer a consistent listening experience in a multi-room environment.
Supervisor: Jack Mottley, Associate Professor of ECE
Ahmad Alayesh, Abdul-Kudus Chiibu, Prosper Feya, Zachary Lyons
A glove with sensors designed to capture flex and motion to some degree and transmitted remotely to a host machine. This allows us get gestures to control functions on a computer such as games and music player.
Supervisors: Jack Mottley, professor in ECE department; Victor Derefinko professor in ECE department
Dylan Wadler, Sakhile Mathunjwa
We have designed and assessed the feasibility of a low power server that can display a website page within minimal latency (1-10 seconds) of a standard web server. Due to the complexity and time constraints, we have created designs for the motherboard, toolchain for the custom processor, and simulated programs of necessary drivers. The motherboard is ready to be sent for first prototypes, and the assembler and linker function flawlessly. The simulator runs Fusion-Core executable ELF files, with a proper memory view and register dump of the running program.
Supervisors: Dan Phinney Adjunct Professor, Victor Derefinko Adjunct Professor, Jack Mottley Associate Professor
Robotic Exploration and Mapping
Amin Almozel, Harel Biggie, Steven Broida, Theodore (Teddy) Reiss
This project seeks to autonomously explore a building or other unknown environment. An autonomous system based on the Robotis Turtlebot 3 was developed to explore and create a three dimensional map. The mapping uses a combination of LIDAR and stereo camera based sensors.
Supervisor: Professor Thomas Howard, ECE
Brian Baker, Zuo Wang
Demonstration of a drop system for multiple drones
Supervisor: Dr. Jack Mottley
Customer: Army Cyber Institute
Mihiraan Singh, Rajat Kuthiala, Ryan Bhular
We are designing a car that will be able to autonomously park itself in a garage. The car is trained using a neural network to detect a path into the garage and is equipped with infrared sensors which are triggered by an object in the cars path and will bring the car to an halt. Once the object is no longer in the path, the car will proceed to park.
Supervisors: Professor Jack Mottley, Professor Victor Derefinko
Location Finding in a GPS Denied Setting
Andrew Brownlee, Arlen Fan, Maxwell Gates, Fiyinfoluwa Oluyinka
Using three or more WiFi routers, an absolute location can be calculated by using RSSI readings from the access points.
Supervisors: Dr. J. Mottley, V. Derefinko
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Team Harris
Gabriela Alatorre, Leonardo Bonilla, Garret Dunn, Johann Ortiz-Franco
The purpose of this project is to build and analyze the locked-in strain of a simple truss structure with the ability to load and unload at least three separate masses at various locations. The masses added are required to cause significant deformation in order to measure changes in strain when loaded and unloaded in various patterns. The loading and unloading of the masses is required to be done both when the structure is upright and when it is flipped 180 degrees in order to determine the locked-in strain.
Supervisor: Leslie Johnson, Engineer II at Harris Corporation
Dorm Dash Delivery Container
David Schatz-Mizrahi, Rony Colón, Clayton Harrington, Sam Pomerantz
Dorm Dash asked our team to design and manufacture a container to keep food warm and secure during deliveries. The box needed to fit in the front passenger seat of a compact sized sedan and have an easy access door for the driver to insert and remove food items. Another requirement was to prevent food and drink spills that could contaminate other orders. Lastly, the container needed to be easy to clean and non-toxic.
Supervisors: Christopher Muir(Professor), Ryan Smith(TA), and Jim Alkins(Machine Shop Supervisor)
Customer: Dorm Dash (Fangyuan Huang and Larry Chen)
Optic ScannerZi Hao Chen, Connor Kasper, Ivan Suminski, John Uchal
A system was designed to align and rotate a 20 mm glass cube at 18,000 RPM for use in an optical metrology system.
Supervisors: Christopher Muir, Ryan Smith
Customer: Di Xu, John Lambropoulos
Rotational Interface for LVDT Winding Machine Production
Alexander Boyd, Elizabeth Stanitz, Christian Rivera, Andrew Fianu
The solenoid LVDT winding machines at G.W. Lisk are subject to slip occurring in the clamps that hold stainless steel cores. The core is wound with a copper wire which applies a torque. The goal of this project is to design an improved rotational interface to hold the cores while preventing slippage.
Team Members
Supervisors: Christopher Muir - Professor
Customer: Kirk Peskor - Design Engineer at G.W Lisk Company, Inc
Casting Capability at the University
Brian Lee, Jillian Silvestri, Dan Healey, Robert Nicholas
The mechanical engineering department would like to acquire casting capabilities. In light of that, our design project encompasses the research and development necessary to create a lab which exposes students to casting and its applications.
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Douglas Kelley, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Eric Pinsker-Smith, Peter Miklavcic, Mohamed Keita, Yike Ling
The deliverable of this project is an engine dynamometer, which will be used for the collection of torque data across the RPM range of a Briggs and Stratton Model 19 racing engine. This project presents an inertial-type dynamometer that determines the torque output of the engine by the angular acceleration of the rotating assembly extending from the output shaft. Rotational velocity data of the shaft is collected with a Hall-effect sensor and circuit combination. This data is then processed through LabView and MATLAB to produce a final torque versus RPM curve.
Supervisors: Dr. Christopher Muir, Dr. Sheryl Gracewski,
Customer: University of Rochester Baja SAE
The Human Powered Vehicle team at a competition at Penn State.
Human Powered Vehicle
This project involves the design, analysis, testing and manufacturing of a human powered vehicle (HPV). HPVs are aerodynamic vehicles, driven solely by human power, that use concepts from traditional bicycles to serve as efficient means of land transportation. HPVs focus on optimizing human strengths while compensating for human weaknesses. This year's vehicle was the first from the University of Rochester to be entered into the 2018 North East ASME HPV Competition with 50 teams representing both American and International universities.
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD
Customer: Douglas Kelley, PhD
Omnidirectional Wheelchair
Gilead Biggie, Jacob Erichson, Jacob Reichman, Alison Thaler, Rebecca Walton
The goal of this project is to create a highly maneuverable wheelchair that can move at angles and laterally independent of the heading of the user. This will allow wheelchair users to more easily perform day to day tasks.
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering Department
Customer: Thomas Howard, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Design of an Accelerated Thermomechanical Tester for Shape Memory Polymers
Jonathan Lloyd, David Meister, Mason Raboy, Yi Zeng
A Shape Memory Polymer is a material that, once deformed, will revert back to its original shape after proper heating. Current research in the Mechanical Engineering department aims to understand the performance life of the material. The goal of the project is to create a device that will automate life testing by performing a minimum of 100 cycles of manipulation and reversion within a single eight hour period on multiple samples.
Supervisor: Professor Christopher Muir, University of Rochester
Customer: Professor John Lambropoulos, University of Rochester
Jinge Wang, Alan Xu, Josue Hernandez, Patrick O'Sullivan, Anik Hoque
Historical manuscripts and maps are sensitive items that can sometimes be illegible due to damaging. Using multi-spectral imaging, the Lazarus Project re-images these items and make them readable again. To assist with this process, this project designed a mechanism to move the items in both the x and y direction during imaging without actually touching the items.
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Customer: Gregory Heyworth, Department of English
Construction Robotics Platform Support
Ian Campbell, Caulin Forest Nelson-Angelsea, Chris Muller, Manuel Rodriguez
The problem currently faced by Construction Robotics is the complicated design of the structure that supports the load of SAM the bricklaying robot as well as the workers alongside the robot. The task at hand is to design a beam that connects the tracks to the hydro mobile platform as simply as possible.
Supervisor: Chris Muir, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Customer: Construction Robotics
Russell DiGate, Erik Rosenkranz, John Quinlivan, Jorge Garcia
OLED Works is a company that manufactures organic LED lighting. During their standard manufacturing process, they ran into the issue of contamination from atmospheric conditions while transferring the LEDs from one step in the process to the next. In order to solve this our team was tasked with designing a box that is vacuum sealed. The doors need to open themselves at a pressure differential(inside the box vs the outside) of 5 psi. The box must also withstand a pressure differential of 1 bar without permanent deformation.
Supervisor: Tim Spencer- Director of Mechanical systems at OLED Works
Mechanical Components of a Safe Fluoroscopy Surgical Simulation
Gina Bolanos, Ariana Cervantes, Ryan McEvoy, Devin Marino
The group was tasked with creating the mechanical components of a c-arm for medical imaging. The c-arm is used for practicing fluoroscopy assisted surgery, without the use of radiation. A team of optical engineering students pursued a system that allows for imaging through an opaque medium with a Near-IR light source and several other optics. The mechanical engineering group was charged with creating a manually controlled device which mounts all optical components and allows the imaging system to move 30 degrees in two angular directions at certain increments.
Supervisors: Professor Chris Muir, UR Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Professor Wayne Knox, UR Institute of Optics
Customer: Ahmed E. Ghazi, MD, M.Sc., URMC; Katherine Armstrong, Joseph Kelly, Nora Lane, and Jeffrey Tsao, Optical Engineering Senior Design Group
Positioning Stage Flexure Improvement for Omega Laser Targeting System
Dyreek Brathwaite, Benjamin Caccavale, Abdulmalik Kurdi, Meghan Patrick
To counter irregular movement with a laser targeting positioning system, a piezoelectric actuation flexure was redesigned and manufactured. The new flexure system was compared to the traditional design to demonstrate improved bidirectional movement.
Supervisors:Professor Christopher Muir, Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor, University of Rochester, Jeffrey Ulreich, Research Engineer, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Customer: Jeffrey Ulreich, Research Engineer, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
Jane Fong, Kathryn LaBine, Nicholas Mitchell, Alexandra Nelligan
Mary Cariola Children’s Center provides evidence-based solutions in education and life skills development for children and youth with complex disabilities. We have developed a 3D tactile map focused on helping visually impaired students safely navigate the Mary Cariola campus.
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Angela Mancini, Mary Cariola Children’s Center
Automatic Label Application of Biological Samples
Oscar Hernandez, Michael Lawrie, Hunter Dell, Bradley Blazier
The device for this project is intended to automate the process of peeling and applying labels printed on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper onto different sized bottles.
Supervisor: Bob Jones
Customer: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
Michael Dong, Sean Boylan, Min A, Zach Westhoff
The goal of this project is to create a completely autonomous robot using a foam body and coin motors for thrust and direction.
Supervisors: Professor Hesam Askari, Professor Jessica Shang
Customer: Professor Hesam Askari, Professor Jessica Shang
INSTITUTE OF OPTICS
Optical Exhibit for RMSC
Haley Knapp, Stephen Chess, Zilong Li
We created and exhibit for the Rochester Museum & Science Center for the 2020 Women in Science exhibition. Our project is inspired by Katherine Burr Blodgett who pioneered anti-reflective coating(invisible glass). By using the concept of index matching, we created our own "invisible glass" by immersing a glass into an index matching liquid through the use of a motor. The exhibit is educational and interactive for the general public.
Supervisors: Dr. Wayne Knox, University of Rochester, Dr. Duncan Moore, University of Rochester
Customer: Calvin Uzelmeier, Director of Featured Content, Exhibition Support & Special Projects, Rochester Museum and Science Center
Analyzing Mid-Spatial Frequency (MSF) Error in Monolithic Freeform Telescopes
David Henry Lippman, Matthew Page, Woo Kim, Kevin Kuyk
Mid-spatial frequency (MSF) figure errors are artifacts introduced to optical surfaces when performing sub-aperture grinding and polishing. For three monolithic freeform telescopes being fabricated at Optimax, we developed our own state-of-the-art model for analyzing the effect MSF errors have on optical performance. Empirical measurements have validated our model’s accuracy and have allowed us to perform sensitivity analysis and tolerancing of the monolithic designs for MSF errors.
Supervisor: Prof. Jannick Rolland
Customer: Optimax Systems Inc.
Plenoptic Imaging
Wen Zhou, Grayce Huang, WeichenYao, Stephen Watson
Designing the post processing algorithm for a plenoptic imaging system that allows for the focus of an image to be changed after it has been taken.
Supervisors: Scott Carney
Customer: Navitar
Team VISION
Ali Hashim, Perry Wang, Weidi Liu, Diego Martinez
The goal of this project is to develop a visual image simulation tool for DigitEyez to provide accurate prescriptions for eye care while reducing the time, cost, and error currently associated with eye exams. The Visual Image Simulation tool will aid ophthalmologists to give more accurate prescriptions. The VIS tool will be used in conjunction with DigitEyez’s proprietary algorithm, which will determine the ideal prescription of the patient without subjective measurements.The patient’s feedback from using the VIS tool will confirm that the prediction is correct or not.
Supervisors: Dr. Jennifer Hunter - Faculty Advisor
Customer: Dr. Brandon Zimmerman - CEO DigitEyez
Split-Step Beamlet Method for Modeling Nonlinear Frequency Mixing
Jonathan Heinz
This project aims to create a numerical method for modeling nonlinear effects through complex crystal geometries that is flexible enough to handle non-planar surfaces and misalignment without additional effort on the part of the laser systems designer. This is accomplished with the help of existing coherent ray propagation functionality within the non-sequential ray tracing software FRED.
Supervisor: Dr. Jake Bromage, Associate Professor of Optics, Senior Scientist and Group Leader - Laser Technology Development at LLE
Coherence Length Measurement Device
Pellegrino Conte, Lei Ding, Maxwell Wolfson
The goal of this project was to ensure the proper function of the multi-wavelength sources used by semiconductor manufacturers in their optical alignment sensors, by developing a coherence length measurement device. Our team has developed a modified Michelson interferometer system that utilizes a reflective grating in one arm and a rotation stage that can be directed at multiple mirrors in the other arm in order to meet this goal.
Supervisor: Thomas G. Brown,PhD, Professor of Optics, UR
Customer: Tao Chen, ASML
Designing a New Imaging System for Training Surgeons
Katie Armstrong, Nora Lane, Jeffrey Tsao, Joseph Kelly
Our project is a new optical illumination and imaging system, to be used by doctors in the Urology Department, when they conduct practice surgeries for removing kidney stones. Our design utilizes Near Infrared light rather than X-rays, so that the doctors can conduct these practice surgeries in a safer environment.
Supervisors: Dr. Greg Schmidt (primary advisor), Professor Wayne Knox
Customer: Dr. Ahmed Ghazi
Lens Design for Photoacoustic In-vivo Imaging Probe
Ryan Sauer, Daniel Graney, Nancy Aguilera, Yichen Gu
The goal of this project is to design, fabricate and test an acoustic lens system to improve the performance of the in-vivo thyroid photoacoustic imaging probe. We focused mainly on reducing the attenuation seen within the lens, which resulted in apodization of the signal received at the sensor, by use of Fresnel lens structure. The lenses were 3D printed on a high resolution printer in the Rettner Fabrication studio and then tested over various depths of field.
Supervisors: Wayne Knox, Professor, The Institute of Optics, UR
Customer:Navalgund Rao, PhD, UR Medical Center
Classical MTF-Based Wavefront Sensing
Brandon Dube
I have performed a theoretical and experimental study into the effectiveness of using Tangential and Sagittal (aka classical) MTF measurements as inputs to a wavefront sensing algorithm. This includes doing more than 3,000 simulations for statistical analysis and multiple experimental trials. The projects' conclusion is that the loss of Fourier phase caused by using MTF is not very important, however the azimuthal undersampling of only having T&S MTF breaks the algorithm for non rotationally invariant aberrations.
Supervisor: Jim R. Fienup, Robert E. Hopkins Professor, Institute of Optics
Profilometry: A tool for Tuberculosis Detection
Sze Wah Lee, Coco Yang, Rebecca Silver, Madilyn Beckman
The TB team utilized profilometry, an optical method, to meet the basic criteria requested by the customer. This design explores the physical traits such as area and volume of the skin reaction to the PPD injection. This solution is similar to the current medical procedure, but will eliminate the subjectivity of measuring the spot by hand or simply judging size via the human eye.
Supervisors: Andrew Berger, Wayne Knox
Customer: Arnulfo Torres
Team Film
Yang Deng; Diana Magana; Zheng Tan
The team designed a dual angle camera imaging system to function as a spectrophotometer to measure thin film thickness under Professor Jennifer Kruschwitz's supervision. The final product will be delivered to RIT Microelectronics lab.
Supervisor: Professor Jennifer Kruschwitz
Customer: Professor Jennifer Kruschwitz
Single Emitter Fluorescence in Plasmonic Gold Bowtie Nanoantennas
Jeremy Staffa
Cutting-edge quantum technologies often demand single photons as the carrier of information. This project aims to address the source of said single photons. The single photon emission properties of semiconductor quantum dots and NV centers in nanodiamond were investigated as well as the effects of plasmonic gold bowtie nanoantennas on the single emitters.
Supervisors: Professor Svetlana G. Lukishova, Senior Scientist, Institute of Optics
VR/AR Team
Barry Magenya, Mike Brunsman, Mitchell Soufleris
Characterization of 280 degree field of view lens by measurement of slanted edge MTF across the full field.
Supervisor: Aaron Michalko
Customer: Raptor Vision LLC
Terahertz Computational Ghost Imaging
Kaia Williams
We acquire images of objects in the terahertz wavelength regime using only a single pixel intensity sensitive detector.
Supervisors: Prof. Robert Boyd, Prof. Xi-Cheng Zhang
