MIE seniors display innovation at design expo
Seniors in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) wrapped up two semesters of hard work as they showcased their research, creativity, and skills during the annual UIC Engineering Design Expo.
The expo featured student teams that brought a wide-variety of projects to the expo. The students joined undergraduates from every area of the College of Engineering, who completed the Senior Design Course that challenged them to solve real-world engineering problems.
Award winners
Ten teams stood out from the competition as they took home awards from the judges, who represented a variety of professionals from the Chicago region and faculty from the College of Engineering.
In the Aerospace and Automotive Engineering category, the team of Chinmay Choudhary, Parth Dhanani, Michael Hernandez, and Steve Pappas captured the top spot with their project “Design and Development of a Formula SAE Muffler with a Focus on Sound Attenuation.”
The students designed an optimized muffler in accordance with Formula SAE rules and standards aimed at reducing noise emission.
In the Consumer Product Development – End User Medical Devices category, the team of Jonathan Aldana Rivera, Naji Fariz, Michelle George, Atah Hassan, Naulini Orozco, and Amir Shirsalimian were awarded for their project “Pressure Offloading Footwear for a Person with Diabetes.”
The students took on the task of reducing the likelihood of foot ulcers in a person with diabetes, which can lead to lower limb amputations and a declining life expectancy.
In the Consumer Product Development – Recreational Devices category, Cody Gillen and Alejandro Rios were named winners for the project “Durable and Heat Resistant Waterproof Underwater Camera Housing.”
The team took on the challenge of providing quality underwater visuals using a Canon EOS R5 C camera by making an underwater housing, which has not been created for this camera.
In the Experimental Devices category, the team of Joe Downie, Kyle Kendra, Eric Najera, and Yuki Nojima won for their project “Cooperative Movement Inspired by Sawfly Larvae.”
The goal of this project was to mimic the way sawfly larvae crawl over each other like a conveyor belt and amplify their speed. The students had three robots climb over one another and prove that the independent speed is slower than the unit speed.In the Experimental Devices category, the team of Connor Creed, Matthew Kramer, and Dan Spathies won for their project “NASA Psyche Mission – Arizona State University Robotic Explorer.”
The team was tasked with developing a rover to explore the surface of the Psyche asteroid, gather and relay samples to confirm the theory that the asteroid is in the early foundations of becoming a planet, which would allow researchers to learn more about how planets form.
In the Industrial Engineering category, the team of Omar Adnan, Puneet Kaur, Kaitlyn Montague, Alex Trzaska were awarded for their project “Topy Precision.”
Topy Precision, a global company that specializes in manufacturing and selling precise fasteners to companies in the automotive industry, tasked the team with extending the lifetime of a grinding stone used to grind a shim down to a desired thickness to be used in a specific component in an engine or other component of a vehicle.In the Machine Learning category, the team of Rosalie Beirne, Anna Biskup, Josh Bustos, Imran Khan, Heba Raafat and Elsayed Salem won for their project called “DREAM LAB.”
The project focused on improving the accuracy of data reading (code) that will be implemented in the future to identify defective products, ranging from different structures, colors, and sizes. The team improved the accuracy of an automated defect detection software on the data sets using a deep learning methodology based on artificial neural networks.
In the Product Improvement category, the team of Jakub Malinowski, John Tran, and Paige Wittman were awarded for their project “Bubble Health, Inc.”
Bubble Health aims to create a personal robot companion to assist seniors living alone. The purpose of this project was to design and test a holding mechanism that will contain cameras and sensors, propose a method of production, and research the parts used in order to ensure optimal and proper use.In the Product Improvement category, the team of Mohammed Alzhrani, Daisy Cueto, Guadalupe Esquinca, and Christine Lockwood also were named winners for their project “Bubble Health – Designing the Base for a Home Companion Robot.”
The goal was to assist Bubble Health with creating a companion robot for people 65 and older that want to maintain their independence and delay moving to a senior care facility. The team was tasked with designing the base of a companion robot that is capable of maneuvering over different floor surfaces and overcoming small obstacles in a home.
In the Robotics Engineering category, the team of David Cedillo, Sebastian De La Torre, Patrick Mika, Eduardo Orozco Gallegos, Nisarg Patel, and Tyler Tischer won for their project “Using Robotics to Remotely Handle A Radioactive Container for Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory.”
Fermilab tasked the students with developing a method to remotely remove a lid from a radiation-safe container and transport an inner radioactive container to a hot cell room. The goal was to minimize radiation exposure. The proposed solution is a robotic device that can operate without staff members present in the room.