Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
13 Improving Prototype for Robotic Animal-Assisted Therapy for Alzheimer’s Patients
Brian Wilens
Divij Nagpaul
James Brown
Zhen Qin design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
other0.pdf
other0.pdf
James Brown jmbrow11
Brian Wilens wilens2
Divij Nagpaul nagpaul2

Therapalz is in the process of creating a robotic stuffed animal that will serve as a pet companion for Alzheimer’s patients. The current prototype has shown promise but is lacking realism: opening a stuffed animal to regularly replace batteries may be stressful to patients. Furthermore, the sensors currently used to detect user interactions are ineffective. Additionally, being able to monitor patient’s distress and adjust the robot’s response could aid in providing a more effective treatment. We aim to implement a prototype that has wireless charging capabilities through a pet bed that the robot can lay in for about 10 hours each night. We would need to design a charging circuit as well as power distribution circuit to both charge the battery and ensure that the other aspects of the robot maintain appropriate power levels. Implementing a method to control several sensors (including a microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, and a capacitive touch fur sensor) by using a microcontroller and designing an input/output controls system, we will be able to transmit this data to a server, process the data to look for trends in signs of distress (i.e. the patient move more on average at three o’clock in the afternoon), and provide the user means to adjust the robot’s responsiveness through an iOS app. The largest competitor is PARO, a robotic therapeutic seal with similar functionality. The major advantage Therapalz has over PARO is that its prototype can be constructed and sold significantly cheaper than that of PARO’s (which costs $6,000). The data we’ll be using doesn’t need to be the most accurate, by reducing the need for very accurate sensors the cost of the Therapalz robot can be reduced. Additionally, PARO is meant to be shared amongst users, whereas Therapalz is meant to be used by individual users.

https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=27146

Wireless IntraNetwork

Daniel Gardner, Jeeth Suresh

Wireless IntraNetwork

Featured Project

There is a drastic lack of networking infrastructure in unstable or remote areas, where businesses don’t think they can reliably recoup the large initial cost of construction. Our goal is to bring the internet to these areas. We will use a network of extremely affordable (<$20, made possible by IoT technology) solar-powered nodes that communicate via Wi-Fi with one another and personal devices, donated through organizations such as OLPC, creating an intranet. Each node covers an area approximately 600-800ft in every direction with 4MB/s access and 16GB of cached data, saving valuable bandwidth. Internal communication applications will be provided, minimizing expensive and slow global internet connections. Several solutions exist, but all have failed due to costs of over $200/node or the lack of networking capability.

To connect to the internet at large, a more powerful “server” may be added. This server hooks into the network like other nodes, but contains a cellular connection to connect to the global internet. Any device on the network will be able to access the web via the server’s connection, effectively spreading the cost of a single cellular data plan (which is too expensive for individuals in rural areas). The server also contains a continually-updated several-terabyte cache of educational data and programs, such as Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg. This data gives students and educators high-speed access to resources. Working in harmony, these two components foster economic growth and education, while significantly reducing the costs of adding future infrastructure.