The mining industry is always trying to develop new ways to increase its production, while lowering the overall operating costs of its equipment. New autonomous technology is being implemented in industries around the world, showing signs of higher production rates while minimizing safety risks.

The goal of this project is to develop a new mining methodology by implementing autonomous vehicles into the North Carlin mining sector of Nevada. The project will include several phases, including an examination/comparison of the economics surrounding autonomous vehicle implementation, redesigning mine roads to fit autonomy, and implementing autonomous technology into the mine. Our primary goal is to enable autonomy, while maximizing production rates, minimizing costs, and keeping safety at the forefront of the project.

Design and build a device to help blind scientists visualize data maps. The device will be a computer- controlled surface that changes its shape based on data input. The device will display a continuous three-dimensional shape allowing a blind person to feel a contour map, heat plot, or other 3D continuous surface data.

The team will work with blind students to develop the technical specifications for resolution, surface material properties, and use cases. The team will select a data input format. The device will import the data via USB, check to ensure that the data is continuous and is compatible with the device, It will then scale the data to fit the size and dynamic range of the device, and finally the device will change the shape of the surface to display the data.

Bonus features: An audio readout of the x,y, and z scales, and other data required in the use cases; and continuous motion to display data that changes over time.

Project Goal: To design and build a testbed system able to measure the effect of Pulsed Electromagnetic (PEMF) on heating of biological tissues. The testbed will allow: 1. Placement and maintenance of a range of tissue or "tissue equivalents" to be mounted within and maintained under physiologic conditions; 2. Tissue will be placed in a cartridge or "limb-like" facsimile (foot, leg) to allow easy tissue exchange, perfusion and instrumentation; 3. Tissue cartridges will allow easy instrumentation of tissue at varying external and internal locations; 4. The design will incorporate temperature sensors able to be placed spatially within the tissue, over a range of distances and depths; 5. The design will also allow placement of probes that measure the electric and magnetic fields generated by the therapy, to coincidentally measure actual delivered PEMF dose at tissue depth; 6. Recording and Display of temperatures - A data recording, analysis and display system will be designed to allow for ready interpretation, visualization and display of results of experiments in which tissue will be exposed to a range of PEMF doses = varying intensity, frequency of exposure and total time of exposure. This system will help advance PEMF therapy towards expanded use in the clinic by providing an engineering tool (the testbed system) able to systematically and reproducibly define the effects that varying PEMF energy delivery regimes have on regional tissue delivery and its thermal consequences.

Project Background/Scope: Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) has been demonstrated to be an effective and useful therapeutic modality capable of modulating a range of biologic and pathophysiologic body responses. To date the delivery of PEMF has been shown to enhance healing of chronic tissue ulcers. PEMF has also been demonstrated to accelerated wound closure. Of note PEMF has been able to modulate neuroinflammatory responses underlying chronic pain. As such, PEMF has been demonstrated to be, and has emerged as, a safe and effective, non-drug based therapeutic means of reducing pain. To date it is understood that electrical field and magnetic field effects of PEMF are the significant therapeutic agents driving the observed biologic effects. Electromagnetic energy interaction with tissue is also known to induce local tissue heating. The relative contribution of electromagnetic versus heating effects remains incompletely defined. It is the goal of this project to help tease these issues apart. Regenesis Biomedical manufactures an effective FDA cleared therapeutic system able to deliver PEMF.

Why build a testbed system? Much like dosing of a medication, non-pharmacologic therapies such as PEMF, in which energy is delivered to tissue, need to be thoroughly understood as far as how energy interacts with tissue and what contribution each energy mode has as to therapeutic effects. While PEMF has been proven to be safe and effective, there is room for greater understanding as to energy-tissue interactions, tissue conversion of energy to heat and means of assessing such. This is the goal of the current project. Here the project team will build an effective system able to determine the effects that a range of PEMF dosing regimes, i.e., intensity, frequency, and duration, have on actual tissue heating.

The space sector is exponentially increasing rocket launches and satellite deployments. In addition, the remains of old satellites and rocket vehicles are a growing threat due to the accumulation of space debris. In the next 30 years, Cislunar space will become crowded with diverse space development activities. As a result, there is a critical need to develop next-generation platforms that will provide spacecraft services, including refueling, repair, Cislunar observation, and communication capabilities. A space platform envisioned at the Earth-Moon first Lagrange point has been proposed through this year’s NASA RASCAL Competition. Two teams of aerospace engineering students will be selected to conceptualize, design, and prototype critical elements of the L1 space platform. The platform may be robotic, occupied by humans, or a mix of both. The student teams must focus on a specialized area for their L1 space platform.

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.

The space sector is exponentially increasing rocket launches and satellite deployments. In addition, the remains of old satellites and rocket vehicles are a growing threat due to the accumulation of space debris. In the next 30 years, Cislunar space will become crowded with diverse space development activities. As a result, there is a critical need to develop next-generation platforms that will provide spacecraft services, including refueling, repair, Cislunar observation, and communication capabilities. A space platform envisioned at the Earth-Moon first Lagrange point has been proposed through this year’s NASA RASCAL Competition. Two teams of aerospace engineering students will be selected to conceptualize, design, and prototype critical elements of the L1 space platform. The platform may be robotic, occupied by humans, or a mix of both. The student teams must focus on a specialized area for their L1 space platform.

The team is tasked to build a biomedical sensor board that will fit as extension (HAT) onto the Raspberry Pi 3 or 4. The sensor board shall measure:
1. Skin Impedance
2. Electrocardiogram
3. Blood Oxygenation
4. Sound
5. Temperature in non-contact and contact mode

Software developed in Python shall visualize the signals. Electrical safety will need to be considered.

This board will be utilized in undergraduate education. Each sensor unit shall be well documented and include a description of the measurement principle and physiologic origin of the signal. Current state of the art components shall be selected. Commonly used clinical sensor shall be interfaced with the sensor board. The cost of the system shall not exceed the typical university laboratory course fee.

Each team member shall be responsible for the system design of at least one of the measured signals. At least one team member shall be responsible for the integration of the subsystems and interface to the Raspberry Pi. Each team member shall develop basic software illustrating the operation of their subsystem.
To complete this project, students will need to have knowledge of basic printed circuit board design and SMD soldering. Students not having PCB design or soldering experience will need to pass sponsor provided training during the first quarter of the fall semester.

Desktop Automatic Powder Processing Station
Category:
Multidiscipline (Software, Electrical, Mechanical)
Problem Statement
Powder Bed Fusion 3D Printing (SLS, MJF, etc) allows for the 3D printing of polymer parts utilizing melted plastic powder. When recovering parts from a SLS printer, the parts come caked in a “shell” of hardened plastic that must be removed via a manual process (scrubbing, media blasting). This process takes a lot of touch labor, rotating the part to every possible angle to ensure full media blasting of every surface.
Task
Develop an automated method of processing SLS printed parts utilizing compressed air, media blasting, vibration, tumbling, and or other processes. The system should be closed, able to accept a 6” cubed part, and able to remove the vast majority of caked powder from the surface from parts of arbitrary geometry.
Desktop Automatic Powder Processing Station – Requirements
The final solution must meet the following requirements:
Automated system that allows users to process SLS printed parts.
Remove (at a minimum) 98% of caked on SLS powder
Self-clean parts, removing processing media (ex. glass media blast powder) from parts upon completion.
Accept a part at a minimum size of 6”x6”x6”.
Accept parts as small as ¼”x¼”x¼” without losing them.
Does not use any liquids to process (dry processes only).
Recycles any processing media (blasting powder, tumbling stones, etc).
Completely sealed to minimize produced debris.
Well lit to allow for visibility to the cleaning process.

Problem Statement: Civil security recognizance is invaluable to the operations of the Border Patrol, Police, Sheriff, and first responders in every type of environment. Although there are large-scale assets available for these ground forces, the immediacy aspect of ISR is tough to satisfy for the emergency real-time surveillance information.
Solution: A low-cost networked, aerial recognizance solution implemented by ground forces on demand, no waiting for assets, no call for crew served air support, could make a difference. System could also serve as fixed surveillance camera to monitor a suspected traffic route, a complex urban scene, for first responder’s hazard assessment.
CONOP: The operator would set the radio channel prior to launch and match it on his handheld display unit (Tablet or smart-phone). The STAR would provide a wide field of view during decent and will broadcast the digital image and rate data on a secure channel. The hand held display would receive the data, buffer and process the video signal using a digital filter that processes the video using pixel progression algorithms and the rate sensor data to provide a stabilized video image to the operator.
Project Scope: To develop and test a 40 mm smart ISR device (using all COTS components) that is designed to be launched from a conventional M-320 40mm grenade launcher (or equivalent air cannon). The ISR device is launched at a high loft angle to attain an elevation of up to 100 meters AGL, hover for a reasonable period and broadcast imager to the operator tablet. It would be equipped with a low cost CCD camera, low cost rate sensors, and a low power COTS radio data-link. This project will also need to include the hand held tablet to process the digital video and display it real-time.

NEED:
Urban and Desert recognizance has become invaluable to First Responders and Border Patrol.
GOAL:
To provide a low-cost, configurable, durable, airborne and/or ground-borne recognizance solutions that are printable on demand just prior to deployment.


Objective:
To develop and deliver the capability to 3-D print a small family of scalable quad copters and/or ground bots that utilize common architecture and common components (controller, servos, motors, rotors, wheels, batteries, camera, video link, etc).
Generate “blue prints” for a basic, scalable quad copter or rugged ground bot design that can be 3-D printed, assembled, programmed and operated the next day. Once printed, the user can quickly assemble the Bot, select or program the personality code, connect wires, run a quick test and the Bot is mission ready.
Must include a minimum of two (2) configurations varied by either scale (small & medium) or by type (quad copter & ground bot). The more options provided the better the solution.