The objective of this experiment was to investigate the correlation between the starting pitch angle of a Dragon Boat paddle and the ensuing total stress and force on the paddle during the first stroke. During the first stroke (i.e., starting at rest) the stress on the paddle can be equated with the force output. To do this, a paddle was modified with a strain gauge and other equipment, and tests were run varying the pitch angle. The results showed that while the most positive starting angle yielded the highest stress and force on the paddle, there was no discernible trend correlating the angle to the stress. Further experimentation must be run to determine which other factors influence the stress.

One of the most promising technologies for creating power without emissions is Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) because it uses oxygen and hydrogen to create electricity with the only byproduct being water. To figure out the optimal design of the fuel cell, a literature review was conducted to determine the effects of adding both internal and external current collectors as well as the difference length has on the performance. To learn more about the kinetics of the reaction, hydrogen and carbon monoxide disappearance rates were measured to compare the rate at which each species disappears.

Wardriving is when prospective malicious hackers drive with a portable computer to sniff out and map potentially vulnerable networks. With the advent of smart homes and other Internet of Things devices, this poses the possibility of more unsecure targets. The hardware available to the public has also miniaturized and gotten more powerful. One no longer needs to carry a complete laptop to carry out network mapping. With this miniaturization and greater popularity of quadcopter technology, the two can be combined to create a more efficient wardriving setup in a potentially more target-rich environment. Thus, we set out to create a prototype as a proof of concept of this combination. By creating a bracket for a Raspberry Pi to be mounted to a drone with other wireless sniffing equipment, we demonstrate that one can use various off the shelf components to create a powerful network detection device. In this write up, we also outline some of the challenges encountered by combining these two technologies, as well as the solutions to those challenges. Adding payload weight to drones that are not initially designed for it causes detrimental effects to various characteristics such as flight behavior and power consumption. Less computing power is available due to the miniaturization that must take place for a drone-mounted solution. Communication between the miniature computer and a ground control computer is also essential in overall system operation. Below, we highlight solutions to these various problems as well as improvements that can be implemented for maximum system effectiveness.

Children with cerebral palsy suffer from balance deficits that may greatly reduce their quality of life. However, recent advancements in robotics allow for balance rehabilitation paradigms that provide greater control of the training environment and more robust measurement techniques. Previous works have shown functional balance improvement using standing surface perturbations and compliant surface balancing. Visual feedback during balance training has also been shown to improve postural balance control. However, the combined effect of these interventions has not been evaluated. This paper presents a robot-aided rehabilitation study for two children with cerebral palsy on a side-specific performance-adaptive compliant surface with perturbations. Visual feedback of the participant’s center of pressure and weight distribution were used to evaluate successful balance and trigger perturbations after a period of successful balancing. The platform compliance increased relative to the amount of successful balance during each training interval. Participants trained for 6 weeks including 10, less than 2 hours long, training sessions. Improvements in functional balance as assessed by the Pediatric Balance Scale, the Timed 10 Meter Walk Test, and the 5 Times Sit-to-Stand Test were observed for both participants. There was a reduction in fall risk as evidenced by increased Virtual Time to Contact and an increase in dynamic postural balance supported by a faster Time to Perturb, Time to Stabilize, and Percent Stabilized. A mixed improvement in static postural balance was also observed. This paper highlights the efficacy of robot-aided rehabilitation interventions as a method of balance therapy for children with cerebral palsy.

Exploration of icy moons in the search for extra-terrestrial life is becoming a major focus in the NASA community. As such, the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) robot has been proposed to survey Saturn's Moon, Enceladus. EELS is a snake-like robot that will use helically grousered wheels to propel itself forward through the complex terrains of Enceladus. This moon's surface is composed of a mixture of snow and ice. Mobility research in these types of terrains is still under-explored, but must be done for the EELS robot to function. As such, this thesis will focus on the methodologies required to effectively simulate wheel interaction with cohesive media from a computational perspective. Three simulation tools will be briefly discussed: COMSOL Multiphysics, EDEM-ADAMS, and projectChrono. Next, the contact models used in projectChrono will be discussed and the methodology used to implement a custom Johnson Kendall Roberts (JKR) collision model will be explained. Finally, initial results from a cone penetrometer test in projectChrono will be shown. Qualitatively, the final simulations look correct, and further work is being done to quantitatively validate them as well as simulate more complex screw geometries.

Medical technology, while improving greatly with time, often requires a sacrifice in the form of invasiveness in order to reach target areas within the body, such as the brain, liver, or heart. This project aims to utilize a magnetic, flexible needle design to reach these target areas for surgery and drug administration with minimal invasiveness. The metallic needle tip is guided by an external system consisting of a UR16e robotic arm with a magnetic end effector. As a longer running project, the primary focuses of this research are to develop the system by which the robotic arm guides the needle, investigate and implement fiber Bragg grating sensors as a means of real time path imaging and feedback, and conduct preliminary tests to validate that the needle is accurately controlled by the robotic arm. Testing with different mediums such as gel or phantom tissue, and eventually animal experiments will follow in a future publication due to time constraints.

STEM programs are the programs for the future. Technology is advancing at a rapid speed and the world is trying to keep up. Engineering is leading the charge within that because engineers are always at the forefront of innovation. However, just the prospect of growth is not enough for students to want to become professional engineers. Black female students have the desire to better their knowledge by going to institutions of higher education, but they do not share that same passion for engineering education. This study aims to understand that. This research is looking into retention factors for students in engineering and how those factors can be transferred to Black women. It was found that factors like bias training for students and faculty, integration to engineering organizations, getting more Black female professors and faculty, and introduction to prerequisite courses like calculus and physics to Black females in grade school.

This project compared two optimization-based formulations for solving multi-robot task allocation problems with tether constraints. The first approach, or the ”Iterative Method,” used the common multiple traveling salesman (mTSP) formulation and implemented an algorithm over the formulation to filter out solutions that failed to satisfy the tether constraint. The second approach, named the ”Timing Formulation,” involved constructing a new formulation specifically designed account for robot timings, including the tether constraint in the formulation itself. The approaches were tested against each other in 10-city simulations and the results were compared. The Iterative Method could provide answers in 1- and 2-norm variations quickly, but its mTSP model formulation broke down and became infeasible at low city numbers. The 1-norm Timing Formulation quickly and reliably produced solutions but faced high computation times in its 2-norm manifestation. Ultimately, while the Timing Formulation is a more optimal method for solving tether-constrained task allocation problems, its reliance on the 1-norm for low computation times causes it to sacrifice some realism.