Inexperience is a major cause of car accidents, often due to mistakes made when learning to drive. Like any skill, driving takes practice, but errors on the road can lead to serious consequences. With new technology, there are better ways to teach driving. One promising tool is simulation. Driving simulators create a safe space for new drivers to gain confidence and improve their skills. Unfortunately, simulators can be expensive and difficult to use, which limits access for students and schools.

We designed and built a submersible vehicle kit to inspire middle and high school students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. We aimed to create an affordable and easy-to-use kit that taught students about engineering concepts like floating, movement control and programming. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City sponsored our project in partnership with SparkFun and Experiential Robotics, which provided hardware and software support.

We created a robotic system that removes a tough protective coating from circuit boards. The conformal coating makes the boards more reliable but makes them harder to fix. When engineers or technicians need to repair the board, they must gently remove the coating while ensuring the components beneath remain intact. This can be time-consuming, increase the risk of causing further damage, and put the operator at risk of injury. We aimed to design a tool that helps remove the coating safely and efficiently.

Processing and delivery exposes packages to many damaging conditions. This concern grows when shipping separates people from the package. We developed a small, durable and reliable device to track military shipping containers. This system saved time by showing recipients there may have been damage during transit.

This project introduces a hands-free golf pushcart designed to make transporting clubs easier on the course. The cart uses millimeter-wave radar to recognize simple hand movements, allowing golfers to guide it without pushing or pulling. With built-in motors, it moves smoothly across different types of terrain, reducing effort and improving the user experience.

We worked with Danfoss on a project that automated the testing of a sensor ring they made. Danfoss tested their sensor rings using a fixture that moved a shaft on the x and z axes by manually twisting a knob. The sensor ring was secured on top of the fixture’s shaft and a knob moved the shaft to test the sensor’s x-axis. When complete, we rotated the sensor 90 degrees and did the same thing to test the sensor’s y-axis. We used a second knob to move the shaft up and down to test the sensor’s z-axis. These tests measured the sensitivity of the sensor ring.

Bioluminescent bacteria, like Vibrio fischeri, can glow on their own. Fluorescence happens when something absorbs energy and then emits light. This light has potential uses in environmental research and covert operations. However, existing methods to activate bacterial fluorescence were either too harsh or used too much energy. We aimed to build a device that could trigger fluorescence in a simple and safe way. Our project laid the groundwork for further research on these bacteria.

The Aquaponics Farm Automation team focused on creating a robotic farming device that scanned an aquaponics bed of plants and analyzed the collected data. The collected data allowed us to identify plants and predict future growth. The previous team who worked on the project had already built the farm-bot and had started identification of the plants.

This project’s purpose was to address the growing need for better short-term solar energy planning by providing clear and reliable predictions. We developed a machine learning model to predict solar coverage of a given area for the next 5 to 10 minutes. The model was a convolutional neural network that took an image of overhead weather and solar radiation at the same time as inputs. Based on the input data, the model learned what features in the image related to varying solar radiation levels and then output a prediction of future solar radiation.

The ability to analyze the current-voltage (IV) characteristics of electronic components is critical for researchers, educators and engineers. Understanding these characteristics helps design reliable circuits and ensures proper functionality. We aimed to develop a compact, user-friendly IV Curve Tracer to simplify this process while maintaining accuracy and affordability.