Category: Uncategorized

This week we spoke with Baran Usluel of Flightie Talkie, a Capstone Design group sponsored by the 3D Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment to create a speakerphone payload for drones to communicate.

Q: Could you give us a brief description of your project for those who may not know about it?

A: Drones are used by the military, law enforcement and other industries to remotely navigate and surveil hazardous situations. However, there are no available solutions on the market for two-way communication with people around a drone. Our project was to design a long-range speakerphone payload for the FLIR SkyRaider R80D.

Q: Where did you first draw inspiration for the idea of the “Speaker Integration with SUAS,” for your Capstone Design Project?

A: The project was proposed and sponsored by the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment of the US Army. They needed a solution to easily communicate with civilians or troops in combat zones through their existing unmanned aircraft.

Q: What was the design process like and how did you and your teammates come together to finish your project?

A: The design process firstly started with defining and understanding the problem, doing all the relevant research, and then moving on to concept ideation and selection. After selecting our initial concept and starting design, we discovered new constraints that took us back to the drawing board and brought us to our final design. Our ME and ECE members worked as two subteams, designing and validating the relevant subsystems mostly separately. We relied on prototyping, experimental tests and theoretical analyses to validate the engineering requirements.

Q: What were some of the problems that you faced along the way and how did you overcome those obstacles?

A: The biggest challenge for the team was the fact that we did not have hands-on access to the drone, for security and inventory reasons. There was also limited information available online as it is a defense industry product. We circumvented this obstacle by coordinating with our sponsor representatives to collect measurements of the drone, which we used to make CAD and low fidelity mockups that we leveraged in our design process.

Q: How did it feel to present your project virtually?

A: Presenting our project virtually at the capstone expo was certainly more comfortable because we were at home, but I believe it made it more difficult to connect with the judges and have natural conversations. I also felt like the ability to walk around and look at posters as in an in-person expo was lacking, although the Gatherly platform was definitely an improvement over typical web meetings.

Q: How did it feel to work with the 3D Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and how did they help you with the creation of your project?

A: We were fortunate to work with the Rangers on such a high-impact project. Simply put, it was really cool! They proposed the project, gave us guidance on the problem as needed, and arranged for us to visit Fort Benning to test our prototype.

Q: What do you think made your team successful in creating your project?

A: Our team members had a variety of strengths, so we were able to divide responsibilities, work individually and communicate well. We cared about the project and wanted to produce something we were proud of. Put together with helpful advisors and sponsor representatives, this set us up for success.

Q: Do you have any advice for future teams?

A: The initial project planning stages before you get to designing are more useful than you think; they can save you a lot of time later if done right. And once you get to the design stage, the semester will fly by so try to make sure you are constantly making progress! Finally, make sure each team member is clear about what is expected of them; overcommunication is better than a lack of communication.

Thanks Baran for speaking with us this week!

Happy Throwback Thursday! This week we interviewed Harrison Kollias of the QuaranTEAM, which developed the fluid controls system of ResonanceDx’s rapid COVID-19 diagnostic test.

Q: Could you give us a brief description of your project for those who may not know about it?

A: We’ve spent last semester working with our sponsor, ResonanceDx, to develop a brand new, innovative infectious disease diagnostic test system. This new system will enable accurate test results to be delivered to the patient within 5 minutes, much faster than any other test on the market. Due to the pandemic, ResonanceDx’s focus shifted to meeting this goal specifically for COVID-19 diagnostics. Our team was responsible for the development of the fluid control system for a test cartridge used in this system.

Q: What was the creation process like?

A: Our team worked well with each other by evaluating each other’s strength and then clearly defining roles for each member of the team. The creation process went very smoothly as a result and our team never had any issues with meeting deadlines.

Q: What were some of the problems that you faced along the way?

A: Teamwork was never an issue for us, but one of the more prominent design challenges for the system was creating a way to move fluid without having powered electronics within the fluidic system. Our solution incorporated converting rotational motion of a motor into linear motion in a syringe to pump the sample fluid through the fluidic channels. This provided for a simple control scheme that only required the powered rotation of 2 motors to control the entire fluidic system.

Q: What do you think made your team successful in creating a fluidic package for Covid-19 rapid diagnostic tests?

A: Our team worked hard to understand and define the problem as early as possible so that we could start designing and prototyping very early in the semester. A design will be more successful with more iterations that can be evaluated. 

Q: Do you have any advice for future teams?

A: Define goals early, stay as organized as possible, and communicate constantly. There are no shortcuts.

For this Throwback Thursday, we interviewed Sebastian Delgado, a member of Team T.AK.E.O.F.F. Sebastian’s team helped design their “High School Startup Project,” where they created a plan to help teach students and teachers about the engineering field through the process of building a drone. With his teammates Teja Huggins, Nicole Catanzariti, Michael Benben, Maria Jose Serrato Gutierrez, and David Ramsey, he was able to present during the virtual Fall 2020 Design Expo.

Q: Could you give us a brief description of your project for those who may not know about it?

A: We created a platform for high school engineering projects. Students will be provided with a DIY drone assembly kit to learn about how different components interact with each other. Additionally, they will be tasked with designing and implementing a delivery system on that drone to potentially be used in real world situations (medical deliveries, search and rescue, etc). We designed a delivery system prototype as an example of what the drone is capable of carrying. In order to assist the teachers and students throughout the learning process, we also provided 2 workbooks. They will teach students how drones work and will provide guidance in learning how to make additions to the drone (CAD, micro controllers, programming, 3D printing, etc.)

Q: Where did you first draw inspiration for the idea of the “High School Startup Project,” for your Capstone Design Project?

A: The team was very interested in creating a product that would help younger students learn and inspire them to become engineers. Additionally, we noticed that drones are a very exciting and growing product that would keep students interested and engaged.

Q: What was the creation process like and how did you and your teammates come together to finish your project?

A: The team was meeting regularly with representatives from the Fulton County Innovation Academy and Global Impact Academy to understand what type of project they were looking for. In these bi-weekly meetings, the team would update the sponsors with project progress. Additionally, we did a lot of research on existing drone project platforms geared towards high school students to learn about what was successful and what wasn’t. In order to complete the bulk of the work, the team was split into 2 “sub-teams”. Half of us were focused on creating the workbooks and writing the curriculum for the schools, and the other half of the team was focused on the physical design of the drone and drop-off mechanism. We were in constant communication as a team, so everybody knew what was going on at all times. Additionally, we would have frequent team meetings so that everybody was prepared to meet with the sponsors.

Q: What were some of the problems that you faced along the way and how did you overcome those obstacles?

A: It was tough to present project updates with the sponsors without being able to meet regularly in person. In order to make virtual meetings as productive as possible, short PowerPoints were created for each meeting. If physical additions needed to be shared, somebody would bring the drone up to the camera and zoom in on specific components. Also, CAD models were created and presented by screen-sharing to show how small components functioned. At the beginning of the design phase we were focused on trying to design a drone from scratch and noticed that would have been incredibly time-consuming and inefficient to the ultimate goal of creating a project that teaches high school students. We decided it was more worth our time to choose a DIY kit off-the-shelf and focus on having students focus on designing/programming additions to the drone instead of just reading through our engineering models and drawings.

Q: How did it feel to present your project virtually during this pandemic?

A: It was a little difficult because it’s hard to use gestures to present points on the project. You can’t really point at things very easily, or show how something moves. In order to prepare for these, a lot of videos and short animations had to be prepared in case questions were asked about specific components.

Q: What do you think made your team successful in creating a model to educate students and teachers alike in the engineering field?

A: We believe that our project was successful because it was created for a big range of experience levels. The provided workbooks are perfect for students/teachers who have no idea how drones work, and for those who know how drones work but don’t know how to make additions to them. The workbooks combined with the open-ended challenge of creating a drone delivery system allow for students and teachers of all drone experience levels to learn and participate in our project model.

Q: Do you have any advice for future teams?

A: Stay on top of the school work (reports, presentations, etc) needed for the capstone class. It is very easy to focus on making progress in designing a product, so a lot of teams get stuck having to cram a 30 page report into a few days of work. As your team makes progress in certain components of the design process go ahead and start creating the figures needed for the report and write a couple paragraphs about it.

For this Throwback Thursday we interviewed James Lewis, a member of the Helping Hand Team, who supported the creation of the project, “Intelligent Autonomously Navigating Mobile Platform.” With the team’s sponsor, LinkDyn Robotics, they were able to redesign and innovate an older prototype from the company. James was able to present with his group mates, Will Flanagan, Peter Dyson, Lachlan Suter, Jeremy Heit, and Guilherme De Castro, during the Fall 2020 Virtual Expo.

Platform with drivetrains and sensors removed.

Platform with all sensors and drivetrains attached.

Q: Could you give us a brief description of your project for those who may not know about it?

A: Our project was to redesign and upgrade a prototype mobile platform from our sponsor, LinkDyn Robotics, to improve the device’s manufacturability and obstacle avoidance. These types of robots are often used in warehouse automation for material handling but may also become common within the hospitality industry. Our final product was a 2-foot by 2-foot by 1-foot tall wheeled robot built around a welded steel frame with modular drivetrains. A depth camera and LIDAR sensor were integrated into the design to map the environment and navigate through it. As part of our deliverables, we manufactured our design and wrote the software to demonstrate autonomous navigation in real-world testing.

Q: Where did you first draw inspiration for the idea of the “Intelligent Autonomously Navigating Mobile Platform,” for your Capstone Design Project?

A: LinkDyn Robotics is the maker of a very advanced force-control robotic arm. However, to better serve their customers they needed a way to move their arms around a workspace for tasks like picking and placing inventory on shelves. One of our team members built the first prototype for LinkDyn over the previous summer as an intern, and from this very unpolished design we identified a variety of potential improvements. A lot of inspiration for the design and sensor choice came from looking at existing mobile robots on the market, while the software design was inspired by open-source projects integrated into ROS (Robot Operating System) and research into low-speed autonomous vehicles.

Q: What was the creation process like and how did you and your teammates come together to finish your project?

A: Both the physical and software components of this project were quite demanding, so we split into two subteams to tackle each aspect in parallel. While half the team was working on the mechanical and electrical design, the other half used a simulation environment consisting of ROS and Gazebo to develop and test the autonomous navigation stack. Each member was typically assigned individual tasks and larger group sessions were used whenever an issue posed a persistent problem. In the final weeks before the expo, we met in person to assemble the mobile platform and test.

Q: What were some of the problems that you faced along the way and how did you overcome those obstacles?

A: Since we were working almost entirely remotely, it was difficult to make sure that everybody had access to the same tools and was able to contribute. The mechanical designs were created using Solidworks and synced between members using a shared Google Drive folder. For the software subteam, each member needed access to the ROS+Gazebo simulation environment, but severe compatibility issues arose. To address this issue, we created a docker image with the full set of simulation and development tools we were using.

Q: How did it feel to present your project virtually during this pandemic?

A: Presenting remotely definitely made it harder to connect with the audience and judges. The expo felt less personal and it was much more difficult to fully convey what our project involved. While we put the mobile platform on camera during the presentation to show that we actually manufactured our device, it would’ve been much easier to demonstrate our device in person.

Q: What do you think made your team successful in creating an autonomous mobile platform?

A: Our team spent a lot of time making sure that the transition from simulation to hardware would be smooth. We only had a week or two to test on actual hardware, so any trouble transitioning could have prevented us from successfully demonstrating our work. The Docker environment and Gazebo were crucial for this since it allowed us to run our full stack in simulation in an almost identical manner to the way we ran it on the physical system.

Q: Do you have any advice for future teams?

A: Issue tracking is a great way to formally assign team members tasks, even if those tasks aren’t software related. It also makes it easier for team members to be aware of what others are working on, leading to a more cohesive effort. The importance of communication can also never be understated.