COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

The purpose of our project was to create an automated vacuum that is more efficient and cost-effective than other available options on the market. The Crumb Cart utilizes a Raspberry Pi and various sensors to autonomously maneuver around objects and navigate the floor area of the home to clean. The Crumb Cart uses a web interface to decide a run-time schedule and generated buttons so the user can control it from any device and have immediate, easy access to the robot. The web interface makes it more user friendly and allows for real-time control and monitoring of the Crumb Cart. We also decided to use a Raspberry Pi to leave it open for modification of the coding and web design so if an owner wanted to implement additional hardware or add more information, specialized cleanings, and more gadgets to the webpage, they would have the ability to do so.

On average, there are approximately 30,000 arc flash incidents recorded annually, 400 of which unfortunately result in fatalities. Our project focuses on addressing this issue by developing a method to maintain the user’s attention, while also providing convenience when performing tasks in high power applications. This solution will be beneficial to the user by eliminating the need to look away from their work area while providing the multimeter readout at a glance. The heads-up display consists of additional key features, such as a flashlight, a camera, and a WIFI development board that sends the readout and camera data online via email. Its polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) filament frame is lightweight and strong while insulating the existing components inside. This project could easily help reduce the actual chances of an arc flash occurrence.

Since this is the very first Senior Project expo for Instrumentation and Control Systems Engineering Technology, we wanted to create a device that was totally original and showcase many of the skills we have learned in this major. We present to you The Pioneer: a wire measuring, stripping, and cutting device that allows for the process of cutting and stripping wire to be totally automated. With the use of a human-machine interface (HMI), the user tells the automation direct programmable logic controller (PLC) how many pieces of wire need to be cut/stripped and how long those pieces need to be. The main problem this device solves is reducing the time it takes to cut and strip a large amount of wire, specifically the freshmen kits that Dr. Hall makes each year. Making these kits takes a lot of time and money because a student worker cuts and strips each wire individually, while our device will do it autonomously and at a faster rate. With this device, the user will be able to feed the wire into the cutting mechanism, tap a few buttons, and have the machine do the work.

Our senior design project will be a form of smart home automation. We will be controlling the cooling and lighting system of a room using a mobile device after monitoring the temperature and illumination level by using an IoT (Internet of Things) system. We will be using a form of IoT called Cayenne to control and measure four components related to our team’s goal. The four components are a lightbulb, cooling fan, photoresistor, and a thermistor. These components will both control and monitor the cooling and lighting and are meant to be small scale examples of a real-world application. Our project will be an energy-efficient and economical example of home automation. The goal of the project is to reduce the amount of money a homeowner might spend on cooling, heating, lighting, etc. using a tool (cell phone or any device with an internet connection) that most people use regularly. It will accomplish this goal by decreasing and regulating the amount of energy consumed by using Cayenne in conjunction with the ESP8266 to constantly monitor the amount of natural light versus nonlight in the monitoring area.

Our project consists of transferring 22-gauge wire from a large manufacturer spool to a much smaller spool that can be wound up, cut at a given length, and sold in the engineering shop. The machine will use a programmable logic controller (PLC) and human-machine interface (HMI) control setup to make it user friendly and slightly automated with refilling the wire by placing a new spool being the only human interaction needed for the machine. The PLC is the brains of the device that controls and processes everything. The HMI is a touchscreen display that is used to give and receive quick commands to and from the PLC. This project is also a request from Dr. Hall that will help his student workers give organized and accurate amounts of wire to students but serves as a project to display what is possible with the equipment that is used in Instrumentation and Control Systems Engineering Technology.