{"id":241232,"date":"2017-05-03T09:52:09","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T13:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=241232"},"modified":"2017-11-09T12:20:43","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T17:20:43","slug":"engineering-students-apply-their-skills-to-real-world-challenges-on-design-day-241232","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/engineering-students-apply-their-skills-to-real-world-challenges-on-design-day-241232\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering skills meet \u2018real world\u2019 challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A device to make it easier for veterinarians to extract the objects our pets swallow. . .<\/p>\n<p>A state-of-the-art &#8216;surround sound&#8217; studio where audio and music engineering students can immerse listeners in their sonic creations . . .<\/p>\n<p>A better way for heart surgeons to repair or replace faulty mitral valves . . .<\/p>\n<p>A 70-foot tall &#8220;periscope&#8221; so residents of New Rochelle can view the ocean from the town square . . .<\/p>\n<p>These are among more than 80 projects that seniors in five engineering departments and computer science\u2014as well as students in the Medical Technology &amp; Innovation Masters Degree Program\u2014will showcase with posters and prototypes on May 5 at the annual Design Day of the<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/\"> Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The event will be held in the Goergen Athletic Center on the River Campus from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nTHE QUADCAST PODCAST: Design Day 2017<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/5320428\/height\/90\/width\/640\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/87A93A\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"640\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Senior students in the engineering departments complete a capstone project in accordance with requirements of the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.abet.org\">Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET<\/a><\/strong>, which accredits college and university engineering schools and departments worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDesign Day presents a wonderful opportunity for students to showcase their efforts to translate their engineering knowledge into practice,\u201d says Wendi Heinzelman, dean of the Hajim School. \u201cIt is always exciting to see the wide range of projects and to speak with the students to understand the thought process \u2014 and the hard work \u2014 that went into the final designs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCreating a product that satisfies a real need while meeting practical design constraints is challenging, but succeeding in this endeavor is rewarding and can provide significant benefit to the intended customer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Design Day gives students a chance to hone their communications skills as they explain their projects to visitors.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Learning by being there: In the operating room<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241332\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241332\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241332\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/cmti-team3.jpg\" alt=\"four students, one holding a model of a torso\" width=\"1000\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/cmti-team3.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/cmti-team3-630x498.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/cmti-team3-768x607.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241332\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ian Baranowski, Margaret Ferrari, Kyle Meyers, and Lauren Seitz hold models of torsos used in designing a device to be used to facilitate a newer, less invasive method of mitral valve replacement surgery. (University photo: Bob Marcotte)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last summer, Ian Baranowski, Margaret Ferrari, Kyle Meyers, and Lauren Seitz spent eight weeks in operating rooms and diagnostic labs at the University of Rochester Medical Center, witnessing 25 to 30 different kinds of procedures ranging from heart valve surgeries to less invasive angioplasties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne day we\u2019d switch from seeing open chest surgeries to going to fluoroscopy labs, and having to put on lead vests so we wouldn\u2019t absorb the radiation when they were trying to image a balloon going through a patient,\u201d Baranowki says.<\/p>\n<p>Immersion in clinical settings is a hallmark of Rochester\u2019s Center for Medical and Technology Innovation master\u2019s program in device design. Thanks to the close proximity of the University\u2019s Medical Center to the River Campus, it is a unique opportunity for budding engineers to learn firsthand\u2014from surgeons, nurses and other clinical staff\u2014what could be done to improve medical tools and processes.<\/p>\n<p>Not only that, the students also get a clearer understanding of how the actual constraints of an operating room or lab must be factored into the solutions they devise.<\/p>\n<p>Baranowski, Ferrari, Meyers, and Seitz\u2014who are refining a device for use in mitral valve replacement surgery\u2014are one of three teams of CMTI students finishing their design projects this spring. The projects are a culmination of a year of rigorous design, market analysis, and instruction in Food and Drug Administration approval processes and intellectual property law.<\/p>\n<p>But all of them started with clinical immersion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Becoming part of a \u2018well-oiled machine\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For Baranowski, Ferrari, Meyers, and Seitz\u2014the cardiovascular team\u2014this sometimes meant standing a mere two or three feet away from a patient undergoing open heart surgery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first day we felt a little out place,\u201d Meyers says, \u201cnot knowing where to stand, what to avoid touching, and above all wanting to be respectful to the patients and the process that was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the beginning we were standing at the edges of the room, next to the walls,\u201d Seitz adds.<\/p>\n<p>But the students quickly gained the trust of the operating room nurses, and learned to fit into the \u201cwell-oiled machine\u201d of an operating room. They learned the opportune times during open-heart surgery to talk to the perfusionist operating the heart-lung machine, for example, or to ask questions of the industry representative guiding a surgeon in the use of a new device.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe surgeons would often redirect the camera so we could see what they were looking at,\u201d Baranowski says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really beneficial to be doing this at a teaching hospital that already has surgeons committed to teaching students and helping out on projects that advance medicine,\u201d adds Ferrari. The students worked particularly closely with Peter Knight, the Marjorie B. Morris Endowed Professor\u00a0in Cardiac\u00a0Surgery, and Fabio Sagebin, a cardiothoracic surgery resident. \u201cThey were always willing to meet with us,\u201d Ferrari says.<\/p>\n<p>Knight says he\u2019s \u201centhusiastic about working with the students as they provide an opportunity to get a fresh, unbiased look at what we do. Our specialty is in need of novel solutions to old\u00a0problems.\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n<p><strong>Narrowing the possibilities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Each day the students kept a log of the procedures they witnessed and a list of the \u201cpain points\u201d associated with each.<\/p>\n<p>During the fall semester they began whittling down a list of 150 to 200 possible projects, by researching the market, examining existing patents, and \u201ctrying to figure out where there was an opportunity for us to get our hands dirty,\u201d Meyers says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a tricky process. Because the FDA is involved in regulating medical devices, you want to be able to tell them your device is similar enough to what\u2019s already on the market, so you don\u2019t need a lot of testing. But it has to be different enough to merit a patent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By October, team members had narrowed the list to six possibilities, which were reviewed during a two-hour presentation in front of a group of investors, CEOs from device companies, and staff from UR Ventures, the University\u2019s technology transfer office.<\/p>\n<p>After hearing their feedback, the team was ready to embark on the project that is now nearing fruition.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A less invasive \u2018fix\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mitral regurgitation is leakage of blood backward through the heart\u2019s mitral valve each time the left ventricle contracts. It can result in congestion around the heart and lungs, atrial fibrillation (a condition in which the atrium pumps rapidly and erratically), and even heart failure.<\/p>\n<p>Traditional surgery to repair or replace a mitral valve requires opening the sternum, Ferrari explains. Knight, however, prefers a less invasive approach through the side of the chest.<\/p>\n<p>Even with this latter approach, however, a key challenge remains. \u201cWith the patient on coronary bypass, there\u2019s essentially no blood in the heart,\u201d Ferrari explains. \u201cThe atria deflates and falls on top of the mitral valve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So even adopting Knight\u2019s approach, a second opening has to be made in the chest wall to insert a plate that helps hold the atria up so surgeons can see the mitral valve. And this, too, has its shortcomings. The plates often have to be adjusted throughout the surgery.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s solution avoids the need for that second opening. They have come up with a device that can be inserted through the opening in the side of the chest, then deployed in a way that holds the atrium up, giving surgeons a better look at the mitral valve. It also allows them to work through the middle of the device.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a very small space,\u201d Meyers says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on. They\u2019re working with tools already six to eight inches long in the middle of the person\u2019s chest, so we have a lot of environmental factors that play a role here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is what excites us to be medical engineers,\u201d he adds. \u201cTo get to learn this crazy cardiovascular plumbing system, and take into account a lot of mechanical aspects as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is really exciting stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>(The device that the team developed is now being reviewed by UR Ventures, the University\u2019s tech transfer office, which is considering whether to apply for a patent.)<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Doing it is a lot different than learning it\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241362\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241362\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-241362\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/peri_assemble6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/peri_assemble6.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/peri_assemble6-630x441.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/peri_assemble6-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241362\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Catherine Yip (left) and Hiroyuki Asaga at work on their prototype. (University photo: Bob Marcotte)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIdeas for senior design sometimes come out of the blue,\u201d says Professor Wayne Knox, who supervises the projects at the Institute of Optics.<\/p>\n<p>That was certainly the case when David Krinick \u201911, a community artist in New Rochelle, New York, contacted Knox last summer about erecting a 70-foot-tall, submarine-like periscope in the town\u2019s square.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241382\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241382\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241382 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/peri_assemble5_0427.jpg\" alt=\"students assemble metal struts on a wood platform\" width=\"500\" height=\"558\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carolyn John, Michael Kaplan, and Catherine Yip collaborate on a prototype of their electronics-free, motor-free periscope. (University photo: Bob Marcotte)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Krinick, the founder Mesh Print Studio, wants everyone in his community\u2014not just those fortunate enough to live in the upper lofts of the town\u2019s largest buildings\u2014to enjoy a view of Long Island Sound, 1.2 miles away. He also specified that the periscope should be completely analogue\u2014no electronics, no motorization.<\/p>\n<p>Just lenses and mirrors.<\/p>\n<p>As is often the case with unusual requests like this from nonengineers, Knox considered this from four angles. \u201cAt first you think \u2018that sounds cool\u2019 . . . then \u2018no, that\u2019s ridiculous\u2019 . . . to \u2018it might be possible\u2019 . . . and finally \u2018this could actually have educational benefit.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chris Muir, who teaches senior design in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, concurred.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, teams of students from each department have been working in tandem to demonstrate how the New Rochelle periscope really could be built.<\/p>\n<p>The optics team of Jessica Bernstein, Yvonne Bodell, and Katherine Smith started by doing a patent search through existing periscope optical designs.<\/p>\n<p>Then they came across something intriguing. \u201cWe randomly found it online one day,\u201d Smith says. A shipping container\u2014like the ones that can be used interchangeably to haul cargo on ships, trains and trucks\u2014was set on its end in South America. It was adapted to house two large mirrors.<\/p>\n<p>The team concluded a similar approach could be applied in New Rochelle. Two highly reflective mirrors could be vertically positioned 70 feet apart, at 45 degrees respective to each other, \u201callowing the image collected by the top mirror to project onto a second mirror at ground level that many people would be able to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But how would it be housed?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241452\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241452\" style=\"width: 441px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241452 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/peri-shipping-crate-image-1.jpg\" alt=\"renderings of conceptual shipping-crate periscope\" width=\"441\" height=\"333\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 40-foot inspiration for the team&#8217;s periscope.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The mechanical engineering team of Hiroyuki Asaga, Carolyn John, Michael Kaplan, and Catherine Yip, have answered that question with a design that accommodates two mirrors up to six feet across, plus mountings for the mirrors and mechanisms for rotating and tilting them.<\/p>\n<p>The team is now fabricating a seven-foot prototype to display on Design Day. It\u2019s not exactly to scale. The mirrors are three feet across rather than only six inches in diameter\u2014\u201cwhich wouldn\u2019t provide an accurate depiction of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish, with the mechanisms we\u2019re using to rotate the periscope and adjust the mirrors,\u201d John says.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the optics team has come up with two other options. One replaces the bottom mirror with a telescope, to allow magnification. The other would look much more like the typical submarine periscope seen in the movies. It would consist of a relay system of small, five-inch lenses placed inside a 70-foot-tall PVC pipe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOriginally we thought [this option] would never work; our professors thought it would never work,\u201d Smith says. Why? Lenses bend light as it passes through them. Too many lenses, it was thought, would be needed to keep bending and re-bending the light to keep it focused along a 70-foot length.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got it down to eight lenses, with an objective at the top and an eyepiece at the bottom,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n<p>And their simulations say it should work.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not clear whether the New Rochelle periscope will ever be built. But the project has served an important purpose. It gave the students a challenging problem to apply what they\u2019ve learned in the classroom. \u201cAll of the classes we\u2019ve taken were useful,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n<p>But it also opened their eyes to things that can\u2019t be learned in a classroom.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LRFIi7N0Cm0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>\u201cNone of us had experience with a structure this large, or one using optics,\u201d says John of the mechanical engineering team. \u201cSo we had to figure it out as we went.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think we realized how much time it would take for the full design to come together,\u201d Yip adds. \u201cI think we have a better idea of that now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, \u201cDoing it is a lot different than learning it,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n<p>Knox is especially pleased that teams from two different engineering disciplines were able to work in parallel on different aspects of the same project. He would like to see happen more often. After all, that\u2019s what engineers do in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a perfect example of really needing to do interdisciplinary senior design.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>A better way to extract the objects that don\u2019t belong in a dog\u2019s stomach<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241402\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241402\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241402 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/vet.jpg\" alt=\"three students examine a model of an intubated dog\" width=\"500\" height=\"755\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/vet.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/vet-417x630.jpg 417w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241402\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chandler Woo, Connor McBride, and Edward Ruppel demonstrate their swallowed object extraction method with a model of an intubated dog. (University photo: Bob Marcotte)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There is a widespread misconception that most pets can easily \u201cpass\u201d the objects they swallow.<\/p>\n<p>Erika De Papp knows better. A veterinarian with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals\u2013Angell Animal Medical Center, she often struggles to extract objects lodged in a pet\u2019s stomach or esophagus.<\/p>\n<p>So when she heard about the Department of Biomedical Engineering senior design program from her nephew, a student in the department, she proposed a project: Build me a better device than what\u2019s on the market now to extract these objects.<\/p>\n<p>Seniors Connor McBride, Edward Ruppel, and Chandler Woo believe they\u2019ve done exactly that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer pitch to us was that one of the common issues with current devices is that it is very difficult to grasp an object in an animal\u2019s stomach,\u201d Woo says. \u201cSome procedures last up to an hour and a half, and when it gets too frustrating, they resort to surgery. Obviously it would be better to be less invasive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team designed a small plastic tube that can be inserted down the esophagus and into the stomach. Inside the tube is a wire that can be extended out the end of the tube, deploying into a cage-like head that fits around the object. When inserted in the biopsy port of an endoscope with a camera in its tip, it allows one member of the veterinary team to keep the object in view, while the other secures the object.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve focused this design on 40 to 60 pound dogs, but could easily adjust the length to work with humans, chimpanzees, giraffes\u2014whatever you want,\u201d says Ruppel.<\/p>\n<p>Devices already on the market may seem similar, but they are limited to sliding the wire forward and back (a single \u201cdegree of freedom\u201d). They require the veterinarian to choose from myriad head shapes, which often deform and have to be discarded.<\/p>\n<p>The team\u2019s device, now in its third iteration, is more robust. It incorporates two additional degrees of freedom\u2014rotation and translation\u2014\u201cfor additional precision\u201d in maneuvering the head to grasp the object, McBride explains.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the wire head can be rotated, which is crucial to realigning a shard of bone so it does not tear the stomach or esophagus as it is pulled out, Woo says. The tube itself can be bent, or translated.<\/p>\n<p>And the device can be locked in place at any point during the procedure, which makes it easier for the other member of the team to lend a hand during the extraction, Ruppel says.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yeEWGc0QaFE\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Those additional degrees of freedom exceeded the team\u2019s initial assessment of what they needed to do to meet their client\u2019s needs. \u201cWe wanted to take the design further,\u201d Woo says.<\/p>\n<p>The components, designed in Solidworks, can be fabricated with injection molding. \u201cThis puts us in position to easily commercialize if given the opportunity,\u201d Ruppel says. The team is working with UR Ventures, the University\u2019s tech transfer office, to assess the possibility of a patent.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest challenge for the team: the narrow tolerances of the design. \u201cWe were working with 2 millimeter tubing, which is really small. We had to be sure when we ordered wire (custom-made) that it would fit inside,\u201d McBride says.<\/p>\n<p>The other challenge was staying within budget. The teams are allotted $150 per member. \u201cIt\u2019s actually good to know we\u2019re within a limited budget,\u201d Woo says. \u201cThat\u2019s something we have to learn for the work we\u2019ll be doing in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It helped that Ruppel was familiar with the 3-D printing and other resources at the fabrication lab at Rettner Hall, which helped keep down costs. Ruppel is president of the Solar Splash team, which builds a solar- powered boat for intercollegiate competition.<\/p>\n<p>All three members of the team will pursue graduate degrees in medical device development. Ruppel will be in the master\u2019s degree program at the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design at Johns Hopkins. McBride will remain at Rochester with the Center for Medical Technology and Innovation master\u2019s degree program in medical device design. And Woo will attend Rice University, pursuing a master\u2019s degree in its global medical innovation track, which trains students to develop low-cost solutions for emerging countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was one of the cool things about this project,\u201d Woo says. \u201cThis is the sort of path we all want to pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>A design project that will endure<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241412\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241412\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241412 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sound-array3.jpg\" alt=\"two students in a room surrounded by speakers on poles\" width=\"500\" height=\"325\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241412\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frank White and Matthew Dylewsky enjoy the &#8220;surround sound&#8221; studio their team designed for use by audio and music engineering students. (University photo: Bob Marcotte)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Imagine immersing listeners in sounds that you\u2019ve splashed all around a room\u2014much as an artist might splash paint on a canvas.<\/p>\n<p>Future students in the audio and music engineering program \u2014 offered by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering \u2014 will be able to do that, thanks to the capstone project of seniors Tim Dick, Matt Dylewsky, and Frank White.<\/p>\n<p>With financial backing from the department, they\u2019ve strategically placed 29 speakers on stands all along the walls of a room in the Computer Studies Building, creating a cutting-edge surround-sound studio.<\/p>\n<p>The software program they\u2019re using is MAX MSP, advertised as the \u201cultimate sonic toolkit.\u201d It enables one set of speakers, for example, to project the sound of a truck roaring by on your left, while another projects the conversation of pedestrians on your right.<\/p>\n<p>Vector based amplitude panning allows each speaker to be sequenced and weighted for maximum effect, so that sounds come at you from set directions one moment, then literally swirl around the room the next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to make a high-density, surround-sound environment that students majoring in audio and music engineering could use to mix their own projects in current surround-sound formats,\u201d White says. \u201cBut we wanted it to also be extensible to formats that don\u2019t currently exist, and also to some interesting sound field recording techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d1teRKnv4HY\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>For example, Dylewsky holds up a department-owned ambisonic microphone, showing how the four sound-gathering capsules are angled orthogonally away from each other to gather sounds of equal quality from multiple directions.<\/p>\n<p>The team recently used the microphone to record a performance of the University of Rochester Brass Choir in Strong Auditorium. Director Bill Tiberio positioned the musicians all around the edges of the stage, and even in the balconies, so they surrounded the audience.<\/p>\n<p>When White plays the recording, the sound of brass instruments fills the room from all directions, like a warm sonic blanket.<\/p>\n<p>The studio will be an important instructional resource for the department\u2019s audio and music engineering major. The program prepares students for a range of careers in sound engineering\u2014for example, creating music for video games or immersive sound effects for virtual reality.<\/p>\n<p>White says the team would also like to get some \u201ccrosstalk\u201d going with Eastman School faculty and students about the studio\u2019s potential use for music composition, using a joystick\u2013based compositional tool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImagine going into the room with the music you\u2019ve created, and having a joystick to pan the sound around the room, and be able to hear exactly where it\u2019s going based on what you\u2019re doing with the joystick,\u201d White says.<\/p>\n<p>The idea for the project originated with department chair Mark Bocko, who originally envisioned a \u201cgeodesic dome\u201d\u2013like array that would ensure each speaker was perfectly equidistant from a listener standing at the center. However, an array large enough accommodate larger groups of people would have taken too much space.<\/p>\n<p>So part of the challenge for the team was to develop an alternate design that would come closest to matching a spherical array. They\u2019ll continue to make refinements the rest of this semester, then put everything they\u2019ve learned and done into a manual so future students can keep adding on.<\/p>\n<p>Many senior design prototypes, once completed, are dispensed with, having fulfilled their purpose simply in the making. Not this one. \u201cThis crazy space we\u2019ve built will exist somewhere in this building in perpetuity,\u201d White says.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>A color-tracking Hexacopter<\/h2>\n<p>These days, it has become more routine to look up in the sky and see small drone flying overhead. The uses for these unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming more numerous by the day, but the technology put into them hasn&#8217;t been fully explored.<\/p>\n<p>Electrical and computer engineering students Alexander Alling, Yizhe Cheng, Philip Fenimore, Joseph Lasekan and Hongji Yang wondered if it would be possible to add more computing power to the drone, and make it a little smarter in the process.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4pIDMc5pevw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Starting from scratch, the team built a hexacopter capable of carrying the hardware they wanted to mount on it. Their goal was to program the drone to automatically locate objects based upon color and then track the object.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, they had mount a camera, sensors of various types to calculate distance and speed, as well as a computer capable of running an algorithm that would handle the job of identifying color information and then tracking it.<\/p>\n<p>The result is quite a complex piece of machinery, and while it might not yet have a specific application, the understanding could help to develop other advanced capabilities and program them into these aerial vehicles to enhance the ways that they can be used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From drones that see color to devices that help veterinarians extract the objects our pets swallow, this year&#8217;s Design Day showcases 87 seniors projects from students in five engineering departments and computer science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":241922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[31972,18742,19382,23312,68,29502,18632,18652,34062],"class_list":["post-241232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-audio-and-music-engineering","tag-department-of-biomedical-engineering","tag-department-of-electrical-and-computer-engineering","tag-department-of-mechanical-engineering","tag-engineering","tag-featured-post-side","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-institute-of-optics","tag-virtual-reality"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Engineering skills meet \u2018real world\u2019 challenges<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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