Sponsors

LabEscape Escape Room

Sponsored Projects

  • LabEscape Ultrasonic Directional Speaker (Spring 2026)

Adherascent

Pill dispenser with reminder based on scent.

Sponsored Projects

  • AdheraScent Pill Container (Spring 2026)
  • Adherescent (Team 2) Auto Time Setting Scent Reminder (Spring 2026)

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation

Sponsored Projects

  • Automatic Toothpaste Dispenser (Spring 2019)
  • Automatic Toothpaste Dispenser (Spring 2019)
  • Smart Electric Toothpaste Dispenser (Spring 2019)
  • Smart Electric Toothpaste Dispenser (Spring 2019)

FadeX

Nicotine addition recovery device

Sponsored Projects

  • FadeX: Automated Nicotine Tapering Device (Spring 2026)

Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park.

Sponsored Projects

  • Facial Quantum Matching Mirror (Spring 2026)

Illinois Robotics in Space

Illinois Robotics in Space (IRIS) is an RSO at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Every year IRIS competes in the NASA Robotic Mining Competition at Kennedy Space Center, works on smaller robotics-related projects and teaches younger students at local schools about what IRIS does.

Sponsored Projects

  • IRIS Localization System (Spring 2015)
  • IRIS Localization System (Spring 2015)

Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Sponsored Projects

  • Weld Gun Spatial Tracking System (Spring 2019)
  • Weld Gun Spatial Tracking System (Spring 2019)

LabEscape POV

Sponsored Projects

  • LED Sphere Display (Spring 2026)

Micron

Sponsored Projects

  • Soccer Team Gameplay Metrics (Spring 2019)
  • Soccer Team Gameplay Metrics (Spring 2019)
  • Traffic Sensing Bicycle Light (Spring 2019)
  • Traffic Sensing Bicycle Light (Spring 2019)

PowerBox Technology

Sponsored Projects

  • PowerBox Technology Power Meter (Fall 2024)

Siebel Center for Design

Sponsored Projects

  • Reconnaissance robot (SCD pitch) (Spring 2019)
  • Reconnaissance robot (SCD pitch) (Spring 2019)

Sound Sleep

Sponsored Projects

  • Acoustic Stimulation to Improve Sleep (Spring 2026)
  • Slow Wave Sleep Enhancement System RFA (Spring 2026)

Illini Solar Car

Sponsor

While Illini Solar Car started as a handful of engineering students in 2014, it takes more than that to create a solar car. Today we have grown into a much larger operation harnessing the skills of students from four colleges at Illinois to create one beautiful product.

Sponsored Projects

  • CUSTOM MPPTS FOR ILLINI SOLAR CAR (Spring 2024)
  • Active Cell Balancing for Solar Vehicle Battery Pack (Spring 2021)
  • Modules for Safe Power Distribution in an Electric Vehicle (Spring 2019)
  • Modules for Safe Power Distribution in an Electric Vehicle (Spring 2019)
  • Standalone Steering Wheel for Solar Racing Vehicle (Spring 2019)
  • Standalone Steering Wheel for Solar Racing Vehicle (Spring 2019)
  • Integrated Li-ion Battery Sensors (Fall 2018)
  • Integrated Li-ion Battery Sensors (Fall 2018)

LASSI

Sponsor

Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois

Sponsored Projects

  • Power Board for Illini-Sat3 (Spring 2019)
  • Power Board for Illini-Sat3 (Spring 2019)

Lextech

Sponsor

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Sponsor

Northrop Grumman Corporation has provided funding for laboratory equipment and supplies in the area of applied electromagnetics, as well as support for the following groups.

Sponsored Projects

  • Filtered Back – Projection Optical Demonstration (Fall 2014)
  • Filtered Back – Projection Optical Demonstration (Fall 2014)
  • Wearable UV Radiation Sensing Device (Fall 2014)
  • Wearable UV Radiation Sensing Device (Fall 2014)
  • Radio Jammer (Fall 2005)
  • Radio Jammer (Fall 2005)

Advance Devices

Supporter

ARM

Supporter

Boeing

Supporter

Dr. Joy O'Keefe

Supporter

Sponsored Projects

  • Heterodyne Bat Detector (Spring 2026)

Intel

Supporter

National Instruments

Supporter

Raytheon

Supporter

Rockwell Collins

Supporter

Rockwell Collins has provided funding for laboratory equipment and supplies in the area of applied electromagnetics. A number of RF student projects have directly benefited from these improvements to the laboratory.

Sponsored Projects

  • Quadcopter - Sense and Avoid - Revised RFA (Fall 2014)
  • Quadcopter - Sense and Avoid - Revised RFA (Fall 2014)
  • Continuous-frequency Synthesizer (Spring 2005)
  • Continuous-frequency Synthesizer (Spring 2005)
  • football position tracker (Spring 2005)
  • football position tracker (Spring 2005)
  • Point-to-Point RF Communication for Wildlife Project (Spring 2005)
  • Point-to-Point RF Communication for Wildlife Project (Spring 2005)
  • RFID-based parking meter system (Spring 2005)
  • RFID-based parking meter system (Spring 2005)
  • Smart Inventory Management System (SIMS) Using RFID (Spring 2005)
  • Smart Inventory Management System (SIMS) Using RFID (Spring 2005)
  • Wireless Laptop Alarm (Spring 2005)
  • Wireless Laptop Alarm (Spring 2005)
  • Car rooftop antenna (Fall 2004)
  • Car rooftop antenna (Fall 2004)
  • Portable Wireless Locator System (Fall 2004)
  • Portable Wireless Locator System (Fall 2004)
  • Transmission line modeling in SPICE (Fall 2004)
  • Transmission line modeling in SPICE (Fall 2004)
  • Wireless Heart Attack Detector with GPS (Fall 2004)
  • Wireless Heart Attack Detector with GPS (Fall 2004)
  • Wireless switch of household appliances for handicapped (Fall 2004)
  • Wireless switch of household appliances for handicapped (Fall 2004)

Skot Wiedmann

Supporter

Sponsored Projects

  • Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination (Fall 2018)
  • Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination (Fall 2018)
  • Modular Analog Synthesizer (Fall 2017)
  • Modular Analog Synthesizer (Fall 2017)
  • AUDIO - ANALOG/DIGITAL SYNTHESIZER - ANALOG VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR TO DIGITALLY CONTROLLED STEP-SEQUENCER (Spring 2017)
  • AUDIO - ANALOG/DIGITAL SYNTHESIZER - ANALOG VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR TO DIGITALLY CONTROLLED STEP-SEQUENCER (Spring 2017)

TAKE Solutions

Supporter

Funded Project 39 (smart door) Spring 2015

Texas Instruments

Supporter

Texas Instruments has donated laboratory equipment for DSP and RFID based projects. A number of student projects have directly benefited from these improvements to the laboratory.

Sponsored Projects

  • Miner Tracking Devices (Spring 2006)
  • Miner Tracking Devices (Spring 2006)
  • Quantum Cryptography Project 1 (Spring 2006)
  • Quantum Cryptography Project 1 (Spring 2006)

Xilinx

Supporter

Electronic Mouse (Cat Toy)

Jack Casey, Chuangy Zhang, Yingyu Zhang

Electronic Mouse (Cat Toy)

Featured Project

# Electronic Mouse (Cat Toy)

# Team Members:

- Yingyu Zhang (yzhan290)

- Chuangy Zhang (czhan30)

- Jack (John) Casey (jpcasey2)

# Problem Components:

Keeping up with the high energy drive of some cats can often be overwhelming for owners who often choose these pets because of their low maintenance compared to other animals. There is an increasing number of cats being used for service and emotional support animals, and with this, there is a need for an interactive cat toy with greater accessibility.

1. Get cats the enrichment they need

1. Get cats to chase the “mouse” around

1. Get cats fascinated by the “mouse”

1. Keep cats busy

1. Fulfill the need for cats’ hunting behaviors

1. Interactive fun between the cat and cat owner

1. Solve the shortcomings of electronic-remote-control-mouses that are out in the market

## Comparison with existing products

- Hexbug Mouse Robotic Cat Toy: Battery endurance is very low; For hard floors only

- GiGwi Interactive Cat Toy Mouse: Does not work on the carpet; Not sensitive to cat touch; Battery endurance is very low; Can't control remotely

# Solution

A remote-controlled cat toy is a solution that allows more cat owners to get interactive playtime with their pets. With our design, there will be no need to get low to the ground to adjust it often as it will go over most floor surfaces and in any direction with help from a strong motor and servos that won’t break from wall or cat impact. To prevent damage to household objects it will have IR sensors and accelerometers for use in self-driving modes. The toy will be run and powered by a Bluetooth microcontroller and a strong rechargeable battery to ensure playtime for hours.

## Subsystem 1 - Infrared(IR) Sensors & Accelerometer sensor

- IR sensors work with radar technology and they both emit and receive Infrared radiation. This kind of sensor has been used widely to detect nearby objects. We will use the IR sensors to detect if the mouse is surrounded by any obstacles.

- An accelerometer sensor measures the acceleration of any object in its rest frame. This kind of sensor has been used widely to capture the intensity of physical activities. We will use this sensor to detect if cats are playing with the mouse.

## Subsystem 2 - Microcontroller(ESP32)

- ESP32 is a dual-core microcontroller with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This MCU has 520 KB of SRAM, 34 programmable GPIOs, 802.11 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.2, and much more. This powerful microcontroller enables us to develop more powerful software and hardware and provides a lot of flexibility compared to ATMegaxxx.

Components(TBD):

- Product: [https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/espressif-systems/ESP32-WROOM-32/8544298](url)

- Datasheet: [http://esp32.net](url)

## Subsystem 3 - App

- We will develop an App that can remotely control the mouse.

1. Control the mouse to either move forward, backward, left, or right.

1. Turn on / off / flashing the LED eyes of the mouse

1. keep the cat owner informed about the battery level of the mouse

1. Change “modes”: (a). keep running randomly without stopping; (b). the cat activates the mouse; (c). runs in cycles(runs, stops, runs, stops…) intermittently (mouse hesitates to get cat’s curiosity up); (d). Turn OFF (completely)

## Subsystem 4 - Motors and Servo

- To enable maneuverability in all directions, we are planning to use 1 servo and 2 motors to drive the robotic mouse. The servo is used to control the direction of the mouse. Wheels will be directly mounted onto motors via hubs.

Components(TBD):

- Metal Gear Motors: [https://www.adafruit.com/product/3802](url)

- L9110H H-Bridge Motor Driver: [https://www.adafruit.com/product/4489](url)

## Subsystem 5 - Power Management

- We are planning to use a high capacity (5 Ah - 10 Ah), 3.7 volts lithium polymer battery to enable the long-last usage of the robotic mouse. Also, we are using the USB lithium polymer ion charging circuit to charge the battery.

Components(TBD):

- Lithium Polymer Ion Battery: [https://www.adafruit.com/product/5035](url)

- USB Lithium Polymer Ion Charger: [https://www.adafruit.com/product/259](url)

# Criterion for Success

1. Can go on tile, wood, AND carpet and alternate

1. Has a charge that lasts more than 10 min

1. Is maneuverable in all directions(not just forward and backward)

1. Can be controlled via remote (App)

1. Has a “cat-attractor”(feathers, string, ribbon, inner catnip, etc.) either attached to it or drags it behind (attractive appearance for cats)

1. Retains signal for at least 15 ft away

1. Eyes flash

1. Goes dormant when caught/touched by the cats (or when it bumps into something), reactivates (and changes direction) after a certain amount of time

1. all the “modes” worked as intended

Project Videos