NASA has ambitious plans to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis Program. A future human mission will set the stage for permanent colonization, but it will require extraction and utilization of lunar resources to be feasible. Invaluable lessons were learned from the Apollo mission, including the utility of off-world wheeled transporters that enabled astronauts to travel long distances and explore. However, the Apollo rovers were rudimentary, operated during the lunar day, and were insufficient for astronaut survival lasting many months to years. In a future mission, astronauts must explore and prospect for lunar resources. This task is not trivial and will require moving hundreds of kilometers along extreme terrain and temperatures, carrying support infrastructure and habitat to evaluate various sites of interest. This year’s NASA RASCAL Competition calls for a Lunar Surface Transporter Vehicle that would not only extend astronaut exploration capabilities but also perform offloading, moving, deploying, and supporting payloads up to the scale of habitats. The transporter vehicle must be compatible with envisioned lunar surface-based astronaut life support system, human habitat modules, and base infrastructure. The transporter needs to provide adequate shielding from the extreme variations of the lunar surface. Note the project will require 6 students per team and the request is for two competing teams.

(1) Utilize the existing technological capabilities of a Microsoft HoloLens 2.
(2) Design software that can accurately diagnose and treat certain medical conditions.
(3) Model and define test cases for current standards of treatment.
(4) Measure and detect changes in user's physiology.
(5) Maintain records for medical documentation of conditions.
(6) Establish telehealth option for patients/users who should not travel.

The project calls for a multi-disciplined engineering team to build a basketball shooting robot that competes against Arizona basketball players at the culmination event of Engineering Design Day. The rules and requirements are simple: design and build a mechanism to shoot basketballs from the free-throw line; three warm-up shots are allowed, followed by a best-of-ten shootout against Shawn Elliot, Mike Bibby or other current Arizona sharpshooter like Kriisa Kerr.

The team would consist of engineering disciplines such as mechanical, controls, systems, engineering physics, electrical, computer, software and potentially bioengineering students. The team would be coached by a mix of seasoned and early career engineers from Raytheon, with a regular cadence of meetings to keep the team focused on goals. This project will require most of the engineering elements used in application of real-world engineering discipline: understand the problem, determine requirements, conduct trade studies to balance the design architecture, use elements of engineering design, as well as balance design complexity versus cost and schedule. Having a multi-disciplined team is key to making this project serve as a real-world engineering experience. Design, build, test and calibration would be key functional aspects of the development. A regular cadence to meet with Raytheon coaches, a mix of seasoned and early career engineers, is critical.

Are you interested in showcasing your ability to Faculty and Industry judges as you synthesize an innovative design in collaboration with a senior capstone team in University Massachusetts? If so this project challenge is for you.

Raytheon technologies is seeking a multi-site, multi-disciplinary team to design a flexible way to covertly monitor a variety of activities and environmental events in a wide area. Possible uses include border monitoring, security systems and forest land usage and fire tracking.

This team will work through the hardware and software design process in collaboration with industry sponsors and across a design team at both University of Arizona and University of Massachusetts.

Smart Rock Sensor System Requirements
Be self powered and covert capable of being disguised in the shape of a rock or other natural element
Include a sensing element which is capable of collecting data and recording stimulus from the outside world. This may include sensing of acoustic inputs, seismic, thermal, RF transmissions.
The design shall be modular such that different sensors can be interchanged across a common interface
The sensing elements or nodes shall be able to collect and buffer data when no other nodes or smart-rocks are present
When multiple nodes are in proximity each sensor shall be able to pass data and share information wirelessly with other nodes
The system shall include a method for the local network to connect to a wider or outside network over a defined protocol to share data and receive commands from the outside network

Automation equipment to coil pre-cut 7' lengths of PVC tubing. Coiled tubing is then presented to assembly operators for final assembly of the canula.

Snoring is a symptom of Sleep Related Breathing Disorder (SRBD), 57% of men and 40% of women in the US snore. If left untreated it can lead to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), one in five adults in the US suffer from some form of OSA. Untreated OSA can result in a number of health problems including hypertension, stroke, arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy.

For mild to moderate OSA, use of oral appliances designed by qualified dentists is considered the first line of therapy in management of OSA. Depending on the severity of snoring related to body positions (supine or on the side), positional therapy in combination with an oral appliance can be a useful treatment to help improve quality of life measures.

Ability to identify and document snoring events is challenging for patients, especially for patients with no bed partners. Associating the snoring events with patients body position over the duration of sleep period can provide valuable information for recommending appropriate therapy.

The goal of this project is to build a novel device that can be given to patients for recording multiple nights of data. It should be easy to set up and operate (start, pause, stop) and non intrusive. The device should detect snoring sounds from background noises and patients' body position for the duration of sleep. This device should support privacy by erasing human voices and allowing rapid inspection of recorded data by patients. It should not require an active internet connection for operation. It will upload data to a secure portal on the availability of internet connection. This data will provide valuable information to interpreting sleep physicians as well as qualified dentists who provide non-CPAP treatment to manage snoring and sleep apnea.

Project Goal/Summary: To develop a data gathering, coordination and communication system for a swarm of aquatic drones. The team will build scale models of deployable drones and develop the outlined C3 system to physically test the ability of the small-scale swarm to sense regional water (ocean model) parameters; capture data, coordinate and plot data. Also critical will be the development of a communication system for both data transfer as well as a coordination system for actual control of individual drone movement. These system components, in particular, must empower drones to act with defined trajectories, allowing individual vs group, movement, course correction and coordination.

Background, Rationale and Project Scope:
The health of the ocean is critical for overall earth and human health function. Of concern is the increasing stress being placed on the world’s oceans, and for that matter other bodies of water including lakes and rivers. Increasing pollution from runoff and population growth; the increased release/dumping of pollutants, petrochemicals and garbage; lack of recyclability of plastics with generation of dispersed microplastics; and the list goes on - all collectively and exponentially are affecting ocean/water health. The relentless increase of ocean waste is at risk for impacting the health not only of the oceans but also those organisms who rely directly or indirectly on the sea. Climate change, as well, is a further stressor leading to an increase in sea level, a decrease in salinity, regional oxygen depletion and alteration of sea life - from the microscopic on up.

Here, autonomous AquaBot drones are being developed to monitor the state of the oceans, obtain regional samples (salinity, pH, Temp) and recover plastic and other contaminating materials from the oceans. To increase the efficiency of these devices it is intended that they will operate in a swarm or fleet mode. To work in this manner individual drones need to be able to communicate with each other and take directions from a central command control. The vessels (drones) should use an Automated Identification System protocol (AIS) to transmit their position and be able to monitor each other’s position. Key control parameters are collision avoidance, search pattern adherence, vessel integrity/health, sensor data communication, error reporting, diagnostics and maintenance reporting. A set of dummy drones can be used to develop and test the control methodologies – these will be three-d printed or modified from toys such as Create Toys Mini RC Submarine Boat RC Toy Remote Control Waterproof Diving Christmas Gift for Kids Boys - Walmart.com

Specifications – radio communications between vessels, data transmit, logging and displaying data, control of movement of one vessels vs another. Central display, networking of data within the swarm, low power consumption, capable of operating at 12V. Measurement of water temp, pH and conductivity.

Requirements: (1) Research into types of robotic intercommunication system available. (2) Identify how these systems can be adopted or improved (3) Identify low-cost sensing/communication systems for collision avoidance (4) Develop control strategy. (4) Demonstrate system operation through prototyping and testing of mini bots/drones, sensors and control system.
Skills Necessary: Mechanical Engineering, Control Engineering, Computer Programming, Machine Learning.

Project Background/Scope: Inflammation is a central driver of chronic disease affecting the kidney and heart. Inflammation typically drives acceleration of vascular disease – notably atherosclerosis, leading to a decline in blood perfusion of these vital organ. In addition, inflammation can directly affect cell and tissue function in these organs directly. In recent years increasing efforts have been focused on identifying sites and causes of inflammation in the body that can drive accelerated Kidney and Heart Disease.

It has been increasingly recognized recently that inflammation in the mouth, specifically periodontal inflammation – involving the specialized tissues that surround and support the teeth, is a potent site of inflammation with spillover effects accelerating disease in the body. Specific associations between periodontal inflammation and the progression of kidney and heart disease have been noted. In the periodontal space inflammation leads to the release of a range of inflammatory proteins – e.g. β-glucuronidase (βG), MMP-8, MMP-9, IL-6, IL-1β and Cystatin, which are detectable in a fluid termed the “gingivocrevicular fluid (GCF),” which is released and seeps into the “periodontal pocket,” - the area at the base of the tooth. Despite these new findings the ability to accurately measure periodontal inflammation, i.e. the release of these biomarkers in GCF, particularly via a means that can be readily performed rapidly at home does not exist.

Requirements: In the present project the advance of paper microfluidics will be utilized to design a system for rapid detection point-of-care detection and serial follow-up of recognized inflammatory markers in GCF, the system integrating a cell phone for data capture, analysis, quantitation, readout and telemetry.

As such requirements include: 1. A paper microfluidic wick system will be designed to accurately and rapidly collect GCF rather than ordinary saliva. 2. Embedded in the paper microfluidic element will be an ELISA system to allow reaction and detection of specific inflammatory markers including β-glucuronidase (βG), MMP-8, MMP-9, IL-6, IL-1β and Cystatin. 3. The system will be designed with a colorimetric readout suitable for cell phone imaging. 4. A program/app will be developed for image/data recording and relative intensity detection under uniform lighting (or with an intensity reference). 5. The program/app will have a user friendly readout/graphic user interface which will allow data display and serial plotting of data. 6. The system will allow for data telemetry for health provider access and integration in the electronic health record (EHR).

The device shall be able to travel across the flat ground, like a paved road
The main source of propulsion shall come from the physical power of the person who is riding the device
The device shall utilize rowing mechanics in order to generate propulsion
The device shall be able to accommodate a person who weighs up to 300 lbs
The device shall be able to accommodate a person who is between 5’0” and 6’6”
The device shall be designed with energy efficiency considerations (aerodynamics, friction, weight)
The device shall be able to withstand the normal wear and tear that a bicycle would experience
The device shall move in the direction that the rider is facing
The device shall be able to turn without the rider needing to pause their rowing motion
The device shall have a braking system
The device shall be able to be maintained and serviced similar to a bicycle

Ridgetop Group is seeking innovative ideas and solutions to upgrade the RF communication protocol for an Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensor network that is deployed in industrial applications under Ridgetop's Sentinel Motion product line. Sentinel Motion is an IoT-based sensor system that monitors mission critical equipment observing any combination of temperature and linear, rotatory, or vibrational force. This innovative technology was originally developed for helicopter gearbox systems while working with NASA, and has been adapted for the railroad industry. Sentinel Motion offers railroad operators a complete toolbox to monitor faults and anomalies associated with the track, wheel, and bearings. Sentinel Motion comprises a wireless network of RotoSense smart sensors, the Sentinel Gateway communications device, and the Sentinel MotionView software package for data acquisition, analysis, and sensor-gateway management. Additional technology details can be reviewed on the Ridgetop Group website here: https://www.ridgetopgroup.com/applications/transportation/safety-reliability-monitoring-rail-cars-tracks