This paper describes the attempt of designing and building a two wheeled platform that is inherently unstable and discovering what tail design is suitable for stabilizing the platform. The platform is a 3D printed box that carries an Arduino, breadboard, MPU6050, a battery and a servo. This box is connected to two continuous servo motors (one on each side) that are attached to wheels, the breadboard and Arduino are mounted on the inside and the MPU6050 is mounted on the back of the base. The MPU6050 collects the data. In the program, that data will be the position of the accelerometer’s x-axis and that data will be sent to the servo motor with the tail for the controls aspect.

In the last decade, a large variety of algorithms have been developed for use in object tracking, environment mapping, and object classification. It is often difficult for beginners to fully predict the constraints that multirotors place on machine vision algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to explain some of the types of algorithms that can be applied to these aerial systems, why the constraints for these algorithms exist, and what could be done to mitigate them. This paper provides a summary of the processes involved in a popular filter-based tracking algorithm called MOSSE (Minimum Output Sum of Squared Error) and a particular implementation of SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) called LSD SLAM.

The relationship between video games and education is something that has been studied extensively in academia. Based upon these studies a new concept was created, gamification. Gamification is the next step in video game research to analyze why video games enhance learning. The interest and research into this concept have developed so much so that it has become its own topic area for research. This study is looking to analyze the effect that gamification has on not only learning, but also self-efficacy. Through a choose your own adventure game, the knowledge and self-efficacy of participants will be examined to observe the differences when learning difficult engineering concepts with and without gamification. It is expected that participants that experienced training through gamification will demonstrate deeper learning and higher self-efficacy than trained through a video. Furthermore, it is anticipated that some video trained participants’ self-efficacy will increase; however, their comprehension will be less than participants trained through gamification. The results of this study can help promote the interest in researching gamification and education, while influencing educators to corporate gamification elements when designing their courses. Moreover, this study continued through adaptation and integration into a statics forces class, investigated if the same results can be found within a classroom setting.

In this article we present a program that is supplemental to a low-cost force-sensing quadrupedal laminate robot platform previously developed by Ben Shuch. The robot has four legs with two degrees of freedom apiece. Each leg is a four-bar mechanism controlled by two servo motors. The program that has been developed allows the user to predict the force distribution of the robot based on its configuration and the angle of the ground it is standing on. Through the use of this program, future students working on research involving this robot will be able to calculate the force distribution of the robot based on its configuration and generate ideal configurations of the robot using data gathered from force sensors attached to its feet.

With the ongoing development of simulation technology, classic barriers to social interactions are beginning to be dismantled. One such exchange is encapsulated within education—instructors can use simulations to make difficult topics more manageable and accessible to students. Within simulations that include virtual humans, however, there are important factors to consider. Participants playing in virtual environments will act in a way that is consistent with their real-world behaviors—including their implicit biases. The current study seeks to determine the impact of virtual humans’ skin tone on participants’ behaviors when applying engineering concepts to simulated projects. Within a comparable study focused on a medical training simulation, significantly more errors and delays were made when working for the benefit of dark-skinned patients in a virtual context. In the current study, participants were given a choose-your-own-adventure style game in which they constructed simulated bridges for either a light- ordark-skinned community, and the number of errors and time taken for each decision was tracked. Results are expected to be consistent with previous study, indicating a higher number of errors and less time taken for each decision, although these results may be attenuated by a
lack of time pressure and urgency to the given situations. If these expected results hold, there may be implications for both undergraduate engineering curriculum and real-world engineering endeavors.

For the basis of this project, a particular interest is taken in soft robotic arms for the assistance of daily living tasks. A detailed overview and function of the soft robotic modules comprised within the soft robotic arm will be the main focus. In this thesis, design and fabrication methods of fabric reinforced textile actuators (FRTAs) have their design expanded. Original design changes to the actuators that improve their performance are detailed in this report. This report also includes an explanation of how the FRTA’s are made, explaining step by step how to make each sub-assembly and explain its function. Comparisons between the presented module and the function of the soft poly limb from previous works are also expanded. Various forms of testing, such as force testing, range of motion testing, and stiffness testing are conducted on the soft robotic module to provide insights into its performance and characteristics. Lastly, present plans for various forms of future work and integration of the soft robotic module into a full soft robotic arm assembly are discussed.

This thesis presents a kit of materials intended to present students with a glimpse of what engineering entails by guiding them through building engineering projects similar to what is in the real world. The objective of this project is to pique the interest of children by introducing them to lesser known engineering related topics, and increasing their literacy of terms and methods engineers use to solve problems. The effectiveness of the kit’s content and teaching methods was tested in a classroom of 6th graders and was measured using the responses from surveys handed out. I found that kit did in fact positively lead to a change in the way the students perceived engineering, and it taught students about new engineering related topics. Students were capable of completing difficult tasks of wiring and coding successfully through the use of detailed instruction. However, the instructions were seen in two opposing views of either being too overwhelming or more guidance was necessary.

All around the automotive industry, the chassis dynamometer exists in a variety of configurations but all function to provide one common goal. The underlying goal is to measure a vehicle’s performance by measuring torque output and taking that measurement to calculate horsepower. This data is crucial in situations of testing development vehicles or for tuning heavily modified vehicles. While the current models in the industry serve their purposes for what they were intended to do, in theory, an additional system can be introduced to the dyno to render the system into an electric generator.
The hardware will consist of electric motors functioning as a generator by reversing the rotation of the motor (regenerative braking). Using the dynamometer with the additional motor system paired with a local battery, the entire system can be run off by their tuning service. When considering the Dynojet and Dynapack dynamometer, it was calculated that an estimated return of 81.5% of electricity used can be generated. Different factors such as how frequent the dyno is used and for how long affect the savings. With a generous estimate of 6 hours dyno run time a day for 250 business days and the cost of electricity being 13.19 cents/kwh the Dynapack came out to $326.45 a year and $1424.52 for the Dynojet. With the return of electricity, the amount saved comes out to $266.18 for the Dynapack and $1161.50 for the Dynojet. This will alleviate electrical costs dramatically in the long term allowing for performance shops to invest their saved money into more tools and equipment.

The objective of this project was to research and experimentally test methods of localization, waypoint following, and actuation for high-speed driving by an autonomous vehicle. This thesis describes the implementation of LiDAR localization techniques, Model Predictive Control waypoint following, and communication for actuation on a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro, Arizona State University’s former EcoCAR. The LiDAR localization techniques include the NDT Mapping and Matching algorithms from the open-source autonomous vehicle platform, Autoware. The mapping algorithm was supplemented by that of Google Cartographer due to the limitations of map size in Autoware’s algorithms. The Model Predictive Control for waypoint following and the computer-microcontroller-actuator communication line are described. In addition to this experimental work, the thesis discusses an investigation of alternative approaches for each problem.

A phenomenon of intense transmission of light has been observed from optical response to subwavelength structures in metal film. Using numerical simulation, an incident plane wave propagates toward a thin film of silver with a subwavelength slit and groove. This thesis explores parameters, such as slit-groove distance, location of placed molecules, and molecule resonance, which affect the transmission of light through the slit. It is shown how the eigenenergies of the system vary with slit-groove distance. Two scenarios were investigated; a) molecules placed inside groove and b) molecules placed inside slit. It is found that the most dramatic effect on transmission by molecules is with molecules inside slit.