Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
2 Robotic Caricature Artist
Honorable Mention
Dylan Huang
Peter Kuimelis
Soumithri Bala
Xinrui Zhu design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
other0.zip
presentation0.pdf
proposal0.pdf
video
We want to make a robotic “caricature artist” consisting of a 2D pen plotter, made from an end-effector (with a pen), some string, and stepper motors, mounted vertically onto an easel. A computer equipped with a camera would capture our subject, vectorize the image, and pass it to our plotter, which would draw the image onto a piece of paper.
This project can be broken into modules which can be designed (or procured) and tested independently: 1) a software module that uses basic image processing operations to apply a cartoon effect to our image 2) a software module that converts a raster image to a vectorized format 3) a software module that converts a vectorized image to G-code instructions 4) and finally, a 2-D plotter that receives G-code instructions.
This project is appropriate for a senior design project because it combines many aspects of the ECE curriculum such as circuit design, mathematics, and algorithms. This project is unique, because we are combining many concepts into a single product -- there exist 2D pen-plotters and software capable of vectorizing images, but the two have never been combined into a single device that achieves our goal of emulating a human caricature artist.

Propeller-less Multi-rotor

Ignacio Aguirre Panadero, Bree Peng, Leo Yamamae

Propeller-less Multi-rotor

Featured Project

Our project explored the every-expanding field of drones. We wanted to solve a problem with the dangers of plastic propellers as well as explore new method of propulsion for drones.

Our design uses a centrifugal fan design inspired by Samm Shepard's "This is NOT a Propeller" video where he created a centrifugal fan for a radio controlled plane. We were able to design a fan that has a peak output of 550g per fan that is safe when crashing and when the impeller inside damaged.

The chassis and fans are made of laser-cut polystyrene and is powered using brushless motors typically used for radio-controlled helicopters.

The drone uses an Arduino DUE with a custom shield and a PCB to control the system via Electronic Speed Controllers. The drone also has a feedback loop that will try to level the drone using a MPU6050.

We were able to prove that this method of drone propulsion is possible and is safer than using hard plastic propellers.

Project Videos