Student Design Projects
Self-Stabilizing Mobile Platform
The Self-Stabilizing Mobile Platform is a small-scale system that gives the ability to transport any load over even or uneven terrain while keeping any payload level and balanced at all times. The system is capable of carrying any standard load including spherical objects such as a ball which poses the most difficult object to keep balanced as a challenge. Our Project is motivated by the fact that studies show that approximately 12% of all fragile loads are lost due to poor transportation methods in the United States each year.
The goal of our project was to design and develop an open-source low-cost humanoid robot that would benefit four different fields: education, research/academia, consumer electronics, and extreme environments. By combing the hardware and software together, the humanoid robot was constructed. It has the capabilities to recognize voice commands, process text-to-speech, have interactive facial expressions, recognize faces and colored objects, and have 18 degrees of freedom. On top of that, we have a Bluetooth module integrated with a Bluetooth Android application that allows the user to preset commands and directly interact with the robot.
Flight-Gear-Based Simulator Prototype
Al Lorenzo Flores, Chenkuan Tiow, Randy Galvan
The task was to build a full flight simulator prototype and duplicate an aircraft’s mechanical features, its environment and its motion. This small-scale prototype of an aircraft was to sit on a platform, which would mimic the actions of the FlightGear Simulator in real time. These moves include roll, pitch, and yaw. The simulator was to also emulate flight controls, such as ailerons, elevators, and rudder. It's also using a motor to help show g-force.
AGEM-UCR Autonomous Electric Vehicle
The objective of this project is the creation of a fully autonomous electric vehicle for use in construction and factory environments. The significance of this goal is that it allows for unmanned transportation of materials and merchandise. Technical challenges of this project include object detection, path planning algorithms, and control systems. Our project combines complex software algorithms, hardware interfacing, and communication systems to achieve the desired results. This project relates to many important topics in electrical engineering including control systems, intelligent transportation systems, real time decision making, and sensing.
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
Andrew Gwozdziowski, Joshua Morales, Justin Bautista
Our Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is an underwater drone capable of carrying out user-defined missions. The prototype demonstrates some key systems that make a successful AUV. We have created a structurally sound and robust chassis, we have a working control algorithm that properly takes information from our IMU unit and sensors, and we have a working plat-form to add more capabilities in future iterations of the project. The AUV is designed to navigate underwater autonomously and maintain its depth and orientation regardless of any environmental disturbance. The AUV can operate at a depth less than or equal to 12 feet. The AUV will also obtain an orientation in which roll, pitch, or yaw does not exceed a 5% error before proceeding to execute the next instruction. Depth must be maintained within 5 cm of the desired state before an instruction can be considered complete.