ENGINEERING STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE PROJECTS

THAT SOLVE ‘REAL-WORLD’ PROBLEMS

WHAT: Creative engineering solutions to common, everyday problems – demonstrations and presentations

WHO: Senior industrial engineering students at Rutgers University

WHEN: Friday, Dec. 5, 2008, 8:20 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

WHERE: First floor lobby and lecture hall, CoRE Building, 96 Frelinghuysen Road on the Busch Campus in Piscataway. (Parking available in lots at end of Brett Road)

BACKGROUND: An alarm clock radio that combines up-to-date features with the user-simplicity of pre-electronic days; a powered skateboard designed to rival the Segway for personal transportation; and a tennis ball feeder that collects balls scattered around a court are among the engineering solutions to real-world problems that industrial engineering students at Rutgers University will exhibit in the 10th annual Design of Engineering Systems presentations.

The program serves as a learning tool for graduating seniors and a talent search for companies looking for new industrial engineers. Students work in teams to design and implement solutions; then they explain and demonstrate the solutions to fellow classmates, faculty and industry representatives.

“To arrive at their solutions, teams pull together their knowledge of physics, dynamics, materials properties, manufacturing processes and more,” said E. A. Elsayed, professor of industrial and systems engineering. “They use their skills of presenting, just as engineers do in their everyday jobs.”

A summary of projects with the names and hometowns of team members follows.

“RutSkate” Powered Maneuverable Skateboard, by Andrew Bufalo, Manalapan; Sean O’Brien, Lawrenceville; Komal Patel, Old Bridge; Rafael Soto, Burlington; and Carolyn Youssef, North Brunswick. The Segway personal transporter is used by parking meter attendants and police officers in metropolitan areas, but it has two disadvantages: cost and storage space. Skateboards serve the same function but require skills to use. The students designed and built a skateboard that will be driven by electric motors. Pressure sensors on the board will determine which way the rider is leaning, thereby steering the skateboard. It should be inexpensive and will not require skills to ride. The innovations of the design consider the stability of the board, turning at various degreed angles, communication with the user and speed control.

Interior Painting Machine, by Joseph Butewicz, South River; Anand Patel, Old Bridge; Delia Rios, Paterson; and Pooja Singh, Raritan. Interior painting is a tedious and expensive task. The students designed and implemented an automated painting system that measures the dimensions of the area to be painted (and excludes areas not to be painted), calculates the amount of paint needed, and sets up a structure that enables it to steadily move up and down to paint the desired areas. The machine will send notices for paint replenishments and task completion.

Networked Smart Alarm Clock, by Jay Chu, Marlboro; Kelly Delpome, Randolph; Clair Johnson, Stewartsville; and Carl Pankok, Bridgeport. As personal data devices become more advanced and less expensive, markets for simple and traditional technologies such as the classic alarm clock radio have declined. To revitalize this market for companies still immersed in such areas, this project aims to produce an alarm clock design that integrates modern technologies with classic simplicity. The Networked SmartAlarm clock, developed with donations and technologies from Emerson Electronics, features the SmartSet technology, which automatically sets the clock when it is plugged in. The clock is also equipped with wireless internet access. This allows the user to access a web page for customizations, including the display of streaming text from specified web sites and user input on the clock screen. Outlet control and window status are also enabled through remote access. The clock features the SmartAlarm, which allows it to adjust the alarm based on external conditions, such as traffic or delays.

Tennis Ball Collector, by Akira Hada, North Bergen; Diane Ielmini, Piscataway; Michael Pandolfo, Clifton; and Qi Wen, Nanjing, China. Tennis ball feeders rely on the constant availability of balls. Collecting scattered balls in the court is a daunting task. The students designed a fully automated tennis ball collector that collects tennis balls and places them back into the feeder. The machine must recognize where each ball is located and move directly to that ball. After picking up the one ball it must then figure out the next closest ball and move to that spot, and continue until all the balls are picked up. The collector needs to perform the task accurately, efficiently and inexpensively. It should be compact and occupy a small space.

Mass Customizing Assembly System, by Cynthia Hus, Bayonne; Thomas Ramos, North Plainfield; and Thomas Yen, Colts Neck. The introduction of interchangeable parts and assembly line concepts revolutionized the world by improving the ability of people to quickly and efficiently manufacture products. While we now live in a world where mass production is commonplace and frequently necessary, over time the consumer has been steadily removed from the product design process. The objective of mass customization is to reintroduce the consumer to this process and provide the choice of exact product specifications he or she desires. The group has created an automated assembly system that manufactures cutlery and dining accessories that are customizable to over 10,000 configurations. A customer has the ability to log onto a website and place an order that matches his or her exact wants and needs. A computer program will then automatically operate the product assembly while a database will log inventory and sales. Other database capabilities include alerting operators at reorder levels and confirming the readiness of the product with the customer through email and text messaging.

Shipping Container Inspection, by Nathalia Londono, Piscataway; Omar Pena, Hamilton; and Vanessa Sanchez-Dominguez, Atlantic City. Students designed a port-of-entry container inspection system where a fraction of the arriving containers at the port are subjected to a sequence of inspections at different stations. A typical inspection system might look for radioactive, chemical and biological agents. If detected, the container is subjected to further inspection to determine the source. Containers not subject to inspection are stacked in the port yard to be retrieved later by the intended receivers or stored temporarily until other ships arrive to carry them to other destinations. The system keeps track of every container and its attributes. The stacking algorithm should be able to move a container from any location with a minimum number of moves. The prototype system should be fully automated and computer controlled.