International Science
and Engineering Fair 2016
It is enough to restore anyone’s faith in the future: 1600
high school students from over 60 countries around the world demonstrating
their ingenuity and insights in a wide variety of engineering and research
projects. Two members of the SF Bay Area
Chapter of INCOSE, Dorothy McKinney and Shazad Contractor, served on the 2016 team
that INCOSE sent to the International Science and Engineering Fair to review
projects and award a prize to the project which best exemplified the
application of systems engineering.
INCOSE has awarded a $1500 prize for the best systems
engineering project at the ISEF for the past 9 years, as well as awarding
Honorable Mention certificates to additional students. This year, a second place award of $500 was
also made, funded by our SFBAC judges.
The two winners were:
·
Alex Cristian Tacescu of Fresno, CA won first
place for his Project Maverick: An Omni-Directional Robotic Mobility
System. Alex’s mobile platform can move
its standing or sitting passenger in any direction (literally 360 degrees),
directed by a 6-axis 3D controller, which provides simple and intuitive
control. The drive system uses 4 wheels
and 8 motors. Each wheel module has 2 independently-controlled motors – one for
steering and one for driving – to provide maximum maneuverability. The system also has an infrared collision
detection/prevention system and autopilot capability which allows the user to
navigate through narrow hallways and doorways with no problems. The system design is modular, and feasibility
of mass production was a cornerstone of the design.
·
Megan Guinn O’Briant of Arligton, VA won second
place for her project Power of Touch: Challenges in Designing Haptic Sensing
and Feedback for Neural Controlled Bionic/Prosthetic Hand. Her inspiration was her best friend, who was
born missing one hand. She designed not
one but a family of plug-and-play prosthetic hands; the user can plug in the
one needed for the task h=at hand, choosing between a light hand which is comfortable
to wear for long periods, and a heavier one needed when heavy lifting and a
strong grip is essential. These
prosthetic hands include haptic (touch) feedback, so the user can literally
feel what the hand is touching.
Honorable Mention awards went to:
·
Jalicia Azzalyna Desiree Smalley of Lorain Ohio
for Sleep Tight, a project which developed a device to detect nocturnal
hypoglycemia (which can be fatal to diabetics).
In her testing, one patient actually experienced a life-threatening
incident, and the device enabled the patient’s care-giver to detect the problem
quickly enough to rush the patient to the hospital, where the patient’s life
was saved. The testing of the device
also demonstrated that care-givers’ sleep improved dramatically (since they did
not have to remain alert to the patient’s status throughout the night).
·
Simone Braunstein of New York, NY for A Novel
Haptic Actuator for Robotic Surgery: Utilizing Soft Robotic Pneumatic Networks,
a Closed Loop Control System, and an Electro-Pneumatic Control Board to
Accurately Restore an Operator’s Sense of Touch. This invention adds the power of touch
feedback to the kind of robotic surgery devices currently in wide use.
·
Alexander Frederick Wul of Skaneateles, NY for CastMinder:
Embedded Smart Sensors and Companion Software to Detect the Onset of Conditions
Associated with Cast and Splint Complications and to Promote Patient Healing in
Orthopedic Casts and Splints. This
system literally speeds bone growth for healing, as well as providing pain-decreasing
treatment and sensors for conditions (such as infection) that would require a
doctor to remove a patient’s cast.
·
Samuel Ferguson of El Cajon, CA for The Other
Side of Me: An Arduino Based Game for Bilateral Integration in Autism Spectrum
Disorder. This project provides a
“therapist on a box” – literally a box with game-like materials a child can
interact with, connected to a computer gaming-like system, which provides the
same kind of feedback therapy that a trained therapist provides to autistic
children to help them integrate the operation of the two sides of their brain
(the lack of bilateral integration is a major problem caused by autism).
·
Syamantak Payra of Friendswood, TX for Brace
Yourself: A Novel Electronically Aided Leg Orthosis. This leg brace provides active assist, so the
devoce can literally bend the knee for the user in cases where the user’s
miscle control is lacking. Bill Mackey,
an INCOSE Fellow and one of the judges, wanted to order one of these for his
own use on the spot!
·
Matthew Hileman of Colorado Springs CO for Reflected
Laser Communications for Small Satellites.
This project developed a way for very small satellites to use reflection
and modulation so they can use laser communication without having to have any
laser equipment on board the satellite.
Matthew won the INCOSE first prize two years ago.
·
Drew Prevost of Huntsville, AL for Development
and Systems Integration of a Modular Power Factor Corrected Pre-regulator,
LiFePO4 Battery Charger, DC Motor Controller, and Battery Monitoring System. Drew’s system provides a very scalable
solution to battery monitoring, power factor correction charging and motor
control. To understand the impact of his
innovation, consider that tesla currently offers only a few different battery
sizes for their electric cards, and each size requires a different power
control design. Drew’s design can be
used across a very wide range of battery packs with no change. He actually took an electric-powered pickup
truck (which had been developed in a prior year by another science fair project
participant0, and modified it to use his design, demonstration the practical
application.
·
Russell W. L udwigsen of Albuquerque, NM for Passive
Reduction of Involuntary Arm/Hand Tremors, Phase III. This project developed a light, low-cost
brace which a patient with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, traumatic
brain injuries, or even an adverse reaction to a medication can use to reduce
tremors when performing fine motor tasks, such as writing.
·
Vidur Tenali Prasad of Kettering, OH for Traffic
Camera Dangerous Driver Detection (TCD3): Contextually Aware Heuristic Feature
& OFA Density-Based Computer Vision with Movement Machine Learning Analysis
of Live Streaming Tra c Camera Footage to Identify Anomalous & Dangerous
Driving. This project uses computer
analysis of video images to detect unsafe driving. Cameras were installed near intersections
which had high accident rates. The
system has actually been used by his local police department, and has been
effective in alerting police officers to drunk drivers before any accident
occurred.
·
Muhammad Shahir Rahman of Portland, OR for A
Smart Burn and Spill Proof “SAFE” Microwave that Spares the Salad: Novel
Application of Levenberg-Marquardt Algorithms in Bayesian Analysis for
Real-Time Numerical Thermodynamic Modeling.
This project added sensors to a microwave oven to allow the oven to
adjust the heating to the specific foods inside. The ability to heat meat and potatoes while
leaving a green salad on the same plate cool was a dramatic demonstration of
the value of this approach.
·
Rahul Ramesh of Chandler, AZ for A Novel
Algorithm for Detection of Plasmodium falciparum Parasites in Digitized Blood
Samples (Malaria). This project
developed an algorithm to automate the identification of malaria in blood samples,
which otherwise requires a highly trained technician (and such trained
technicians are not available in many under-developed countries). This technique is also applicable to other
blood-borne pathogens.
·
Eshika Saxena of Bellevue, WA for A Portable
Optoelectronic Molecular Identification and Spectral Analysis System for
Assessing the Quality, Safety, and Composition of Food and Pharmaceuticals
Using Machine Learning. This project
developed a spectrometer that can be used with a smartphone to detect
adulteration in medicine and foods. It
can potentially be extended to do non-invasive medical monitoring, such as
blood sugar levels or internal injury detection for hemoglobin. This student was inspired to develop this on
a trip to visit family in India during which she got sick from contaminated
food, and was advised to avoid medicine because of possible adulteration.
