Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
6 Quadpod transform vehicle
Area Award: Robotics
 Jiwon Park
Keewoong Haan
Zenon Son
 Rajarshi Roy design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.document
presentation0.pdf
proposal0.pdf
Our main purpose in this project is transformation. The idea we had was to build a scaled model of a vehicle, which would transform into a quadpod when the vehicle encounters obstacle. The obstacle could be any place difficult to move by vehicle but we're mainly focusing on rough unpaved road or hill. Since we already have certain design schematic in our mind, we wonâ??t be using an already built car; we will build both car and the leg parts of the project from the scratch. There will be 2 legs on each side, which will be hidden inside the vehicle while in car mode. We will be using minimum of 5 motors (1 motor for vehicle motor and at least 4 motors for the legs). The 4 legs will be fixed at certain position and will follow a circular motion similar to that of train. We are also thinking of installing a touch sensor inside the front bumper of the vehicle, so that it can detect the obstacle whenever the vehicle hits it for a few sec. The project will be fully controllable by the user with a wired controller. We believe this project is important because this scaled version of vehicle can access places (mountain and bumpy roads) that the vehicle cannot get through with typical wheels. This project merely shows the basic concept of the transformable vehicle but it may help the vehicle to be used in more various situations in the future.

Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination

Sungmin Jang, Anita Jung, Zheng Liu

Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination

Featured Project

Team Members:

Anita Jung (anitaj2)

Sungmin Jang (sjang27)

Zheng Liu (zliu93)

Link to the idea: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=27710

Problem:

The Donor Wall on the southwest side of first floor in ECEB is to celebrate and appreciate everyone who helped and donated for ECEB.

However, because of poor lighting and color contrast between the copper and the wall behind, donor names are not noticed as much as they should, especially after sunset.

Solution Overview:

Here is the image of the Donor Wall:

http://buildingcampaign.ece.illinois.edu/files/2014/10/touched-up-Donor-wall-by-kurt-bielema.jpg

We are going to design and implement a dynamic and interactive illuminating system for the Donor Wall by installing LEDs on the background. LEDs can be placed behind the names to softly illuminate each name. LEDs can also fill in the transparent gaps in the “circuit board” to allow for interaction and dynamic animation.

And our project’s system would contain 2 basic modes:

Default mode: When there is nobody near the Donor Wall, the names are softly illuminated from the back of each name block.

Moving mode: When sensors detect any stimulation such as a person walking nearby, the LEDs are controlled to animate “current” or “pulses” flowing through the “circuit board” into name boards.

Depending on the progress of our project, we have some additional modes:

Pressing mode: When someone is physically pressing on a name block, detected by pressure sensors, the LEDs are controlled to

animate scattering of outgoing light, just as if a wave or light is emitted from that name block.

Solution Components:

Sensor Subsystem:

IR sensors (PIR modules or IR LEDs with phototransistor) or ultrasonic sensors to detect presence and proximity of people in front of the Donor Wall.

Pressure sensors to detect if someone is pressing on a block.

Lighting Subsystem:

A lot of LEDs is needed to be installed on the PCBs to be our lighting subsystem. These are hidden as much as possible so that people focus on the names instead of the LEDs.

Controlling Subsystem:

The main part of the system is the controlling unit. We plan to use a microprocessor to process the signal from those sensors and send signal to LEDs. And because the system has different modes, switching between them correctly is also important for the project.

Power Subsystem:

AC (Wall outlet; 120V, 60Hz) to DC (acceptable DC voltage and current applicable for our circuit design) power adapter or possible AC-DC converter circuit

Criterion for success:

Whole system should work correctly in each mode and switch between different modes correctly. The names should be highlighted in a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing way. Our project is acceptable for senior design because it contains both hardware and software parts dealing with signal processing, power, control, and circuit design with sensors.

Project Videos