At the close of the winter semester, U of T hosted a Design Fair, exhibiting a number of stunning projects including apps to improve childhood cancer treatment, self-localizing and mapping robots, and solutions for identifying flaws in the power grid, among other fascinating and practical tools.
The fourth-year course ECE496 requires electrical and computer engineering students to apply the technical knowledge gained in the first three years of their degrees towards creative practical design projects. Students work in teams to design a project of their choice from an initial concept to a final working prototype, under the supervision of a faculty member.
Drawing inspiration from Google’s driverless car, Harsoveet Singh and Calvin Ma created a SLAM (simultaneous localizing and mapping) robot, for which they received the Gordon Slemon Design Award.
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“After understanding the implementation at a basic level, we were immediately drawn to the problem of SLAM because it’s pretty much the holy grail problem of mobile robotics,” noted Singh. “We also wanted to pursue this project because we’re interested in the large range of applications that this problem has beyond self-driving cars, including autonomous quadcopters (Amazon), mapping of hazardous environments, and even interplanetary exploration (NASA/CSA),” said Singh.
Singh and Ma’s supervisor, Dr. Philip Anderson, said he was pleased to be involved with their project: “They took a vision of what they wanted to do, researched most of the design options over the summer and early fall, then worked through the year in an incremental realization of that goal.”
He adds, “The complexity of the project was conquered through creativity, planning, process, and teamwork, and the hard work was balanced by mutual respect and upbeat, positive attitude… Whether you are looking at a career in research or industry, you can’t go in with a better toolset than this.”
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Jyoti Tripathi, Nikhil Goyal, and Dhaval Miyani’s team worked in conjunction with researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital to create an automated polyp detector. Their project dealt with gastrointestinal endoscopy, saving doctors from watching eight to 10 hours of endoscopy videos by automating the process such that, whenever a polyp appears on an endoscopy, their software detects it immediately.
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Another team, consisting of Sumbul Alvi, Sumit Kumar, and Edmund Phung, designed a cutting edge home automation system. Their device lets you control your home — including lights, appliances, temperature, and more — from your mobile phone.
“We wanted a project that wasn’t just an assignment but something we could work on to improve even after all the reports, marking, and grades were out of the way,” said Alvi.
Their supervisor, professor Parham Aarabi, noted, “I think projects like this have significant potential to [make] our lives more efficient.”
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Ryan Mintz and his team created a neural robotic arm, which can be controlled without moving a single limb. The user of the robotic arm wears an emotive headset, which detects electrical signals in their brain. These signals are picked up and analyzed by the computer. This technology can be used to assist those with mobility issues.
“You could put this headset on someone and, even if they don’t have control of their limbs, they could move a wheelchair around just by winking their eyes,” said Mintz.
The practical applications of this project are broad, especially in terms of prosthetics.
“This project was listed by our professor, Berj Bardakjian,” said Mintz. “I ended up joining the team because it sounded interesting and challenging.”
The project has been featured in several media outlets including Business Insider, Engadget, and Ubergizmo. Mintz adds, “We had a ton of fun with the project and never expected anyone to pick up the story, that’s for sure!”
Over a three-day period, more than 75 students showcased their projects at the U of T Design Fair.
