This project addresses a critical challenge in renewable energy: developing efficient and sustainable energy storage for intermittent energy sources like solar and wind. Despite the massive growth of renewable energy in the past decade, its utility will always be limited unless there is a way to store the energy to align production with demand. Conventional battery storage is effective, but it is limited by lifespan and environmental impact. Clean hydrogen offers a promising alternative.

The team designed and prototyped a system that generates hydrogen through solar-powered water electrolysis using a 900 W photovoltaic array. It stores the hydrogen at pressures of up to 40 psi in a gravity-fed water tank. A solenoid valve regulates flow to a fuel cell that converts hydrogen back into electricity for future use. An Arduino microcontroller monitors temperature and pressure sensors to ensure system safety and optimal operation.

This integrated renewable energy cycle provides key insights into scaling the design to a 50 kW solar system and a full-scale hydrogen generation plant. With this project, the team has demonstrated hydrogen’s potential as a scalable, reliable and environmentally friendly energy storage solution.

The SAAD system enhances emergency response by transporting supplies to dangerous or inaccessible areas. Designed for both aquatic and terrestrial use, it is compact, easy to deploy and capable of navigating lake-type environments. It supports manual control and sets the groundwork for full autonomy in later stages.

The system features a durable hull for housing electronics and payloads, two water thrusters for propulsion and six wheels for land mobility. Equipped with LiDAR, ultrasonic sensors, GPS, magnetometers, and a live-stream camera, the system continuously gathers real-time data for navigation and obstacle avoidance. A Raspberry Pi 5 manages processing, controlling thrusters, wheel motors, and electronic speed controllers to ensure seamless transitions between land and water.

Users control the system through a graphical user interface accessible on a tablet, smartphone or computer. The SAAD system can deliver a small 10-lb payload and complete a 500-m round trip on a single charge while maintaining stable communication. It provides a safe, low-cost and efficient solution for emergency supply delivery in challenging environments.

Urban and desert reconnaissance is vital for first responders, search and rescue teams, and border patrol agencies. These professionals require low-cost, customizable and durable airborne and ground-based reconnaissance systems that can be built rapidly and deployed on-site just before a mission. 3D printing is ideal for this task.

The team designed, verified and delivered configurable airborne and ground-based bots that can operate in diverse operational scenarios. The designs incorporate video, audio and low-light capabilities, as well as design features to accommodate narrow spaces, varied terrain and dense infrastructures. The bots’ abilities to navigate tunnels, operate in urban areas, and transmit audio and video in restricted areas provide enhanced visual surveillance, reconnaissance and payload delivery
while mitigating risk to operators.

Beyond hardware, the team also developed the PODBot configuration system. This is a scalable, software-driven platform that provides a mission-customizable list of parts for bot configuration, assembly instructions, graphical user interaction, and 3D printer integration. The system also provides users with control of the bots during missions, manages user input, and streams live video and audio. The team’s testing demonstrated rapid deployment capability and real-world functionality that address the sponsor’s three distinct use cases and meet the demands of modern reconnaissance and payload delivery missions.

A Foley catheter is a common medical device that helps a patent empty their bladder. It is inserted into the patient’s urethra and secured with a balloon in the bladder. The undue removal of Foley urinary catheters by patients is a critical issue in pediatric care that can cause significant pain, medical complications and additional hospital costs. To minimize this risk of urethral trauma, the team designed a device that automatically deflates the retention balloon when sufficient force is applied.

This modified pediatric catheter utilizes a plug and tether safety release mechanism. Excess force on the tether pulls the plug beyond its resting position, causing sterile water to flow from the balloon to the bladder. This deflates the balloon, allowing the catheter to be removed easily. The team optimized the deflation lumen’s flow rate and egress mechanism’s response threshold using computational fluid dynamics simulations to predict fluid flow.

Iterative prototyping methods – including stereolithography, fused deposition modeling, and extrusion simulations – supported the design decisions. Optimization ensured reliable deflation while maintaining normal functionality. The team completed a production run with prototype tooling and conducted verification testing including tensile force and flow rate testing to confirm performance. This device will soon undergo FDA approval for use in health care.

Many modern medical devices, such as indwelling catheters, incorporate drug-eluting coatings to prevent potentially life-threatening complications. Controlled drug release from PLGA microparticles enables prolonged therapeutic effects. This reduces the need for frequent and persisting interventions. In this project, the team aimed to optimize the microparticle fabrication process by analyzing key processing parameters and their influence on particle morphology – the study of particles’ shape, size and surface characteristics – and drug encapsulation efficiency.

The team chose a fabrication design that uses a microfluidic double T-junction system to precisely control emulsion droplet formation while a syringe pump delivers active and continuous phases at optimized flow rates. This produces microparticles ranging in size from 5 to 50 μm. After production, the team
implemented various drying techniques, including lyophilization, to enhance particle smoothness and consistency.

Once the fabrication process was complete, the team used scanning electron microscopy for microparticle characterization to validate morphology and uniformity. By refining the process parameters, such as solvent selection and stir rates, the team established a reliable method for producing high-quality drug-loaded microparticles. These findings are a critical step toward advancing medical technology and improving patient outcomes.

AOCs are essential for high-speed data transmission in modern data centers. However, they are difficult to install. Traditionally, routing these fragile cables requires technicians to climb ladders and manually guide them through overhead trays. This poses safety risks and is inefficient. For this project, the team developed a pulley system that alleviates these problems.

The design features three main assemblies: the mounting assembly, the cable interface and the deployment system. The mounting assembly securely attaches to the standard 24-inch-wide cable tray to ensure stability during operation. The cable interface, designed to protect the delicate transceivers located at the end of AOCs, uses a boat-like structure with magnets and Velcro for secure transportation. Finally, the deployment system incorporates a pulley mechanism – which can be operated manually or with a power tool – to efficiently move cables along the trays. When these three components are combined, operators can use the system to safely and efficiently install AOCs by loading the cable transceivers in the cable interface and pulling it to its designated location using the deployment system.

Ensuring situational awareness during ground operations is critical in modern aviation. This is especially true at busy airports where limited visibility increases collision risks. To address this need, the team developed CASA. It is a system that enhances safety and efficiency by providing a real-time bird’s-eye view of an aircraft’s surroundings using multiple high-resolution cameras strategically placed around the airframe. A Jetson Nano AI computer processes and fuses the camera feeds into
a seamless 360-degree display that highlights nearby objects – such as vehicles, equipment and personnel – while generating real-time alerts for potential hazards.

The team implemented CASA on a scaled aircraft model and tested it in a simulated airport environment. This test confirmed CASA’s ability to eliminate blind spots and assist pilots and ground crews in navigation. CASA also provides environmental and sustainability benefits by preventing ground fuel spills and aircraft damage caused by operational incidents. By improving efficiency and reducing operational costs, the system presents a scalable and cost-effective solution for both business jets and commercial airliners.

CTS affects 1% to 5% of adults globally (between 81 and 405 million people). It occurs when the median nerve in the wrist is compressed and leads to symptoms such as pain, numbness, tingling and weakness. CTS presents a significant challenge as there are currently no noninvasive technologies that specifically and quantifiably treat it.

This team aimed to relieve symptoms of CTS by designing a wearable brace that could apply 10 to 12 N of force to the carpal arch while stabilizing the thumb to prevent hand collapse. The design emphasizes simplicity, ergonomic comfort and affordability. It also accommodates a wide range of hand sizes and determines the applied force without user input.

The brace consists of a solid piece which wraps around the hand leaving a gap on the lateral side for the force applicator. This is a triangular structured force design. The end result of this project is the carpal arch space augmentation (CASA) wearable brace. It is constructed from 3D-printed thermoplastic polyurethane filament and a medical wrap and offers an effective and comfortable solution for alleviating the symptoms of CTS over an extended period of time.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical need for advanced personal protective equipment (PPE) to shield health care workers and individuals in high-risk environments. The team developed a fully enclosed, self-sterilizing face shield designed to mitigate pathogen exposure and improve respiratory protection. This shield incorporates an integrated sterilization system featuring 222 nanometer light, a range of far-UVC light with germicidal properties. The shield automatically disinfects
the external surface at timed intervals, reducing contamination risks and eliminating the need for manual cleaning.

The light effectively inactivates pathogens while remaining safe for human exposure, unlike traditional 254 nanometer UVC light. Additionally, the face shield fully encloses the user’s face and includes a built-in powered air-purifying respirator that achieves 99.97% filtration efficiency. This ensures continuous airflow while filtering out airborne contaminants.

The team’s engineering efforts focused on optimizing the light dosage for maximum pathogen inactivation while maintaining user safety. The final prototype demonstrates a practical and innovative solution for pandemic preparedness, offering sustainable protection for health care workers, laboratory personnel and frontline responders while reducing reliance on disposable PPE.

The primary mission for this project was to develop better ways to deploy divers, submersibles and other payloads at sea. Secondary missions include maritime surveillance and search and rescue. To reach this goal, the team investigated the aerodynamic characteristics of two configurations of a BWB amphibious cargo seaplane: a baseline design and a variant equipped with catamaran-style floats. These configurations are intended for long-range offshore mission support, so the team optimized the design to meet these performance requirements and to maximize the coefficient of lift and minimize the coefficient of drag.

The team quantified the drag penalty introduced by the floats with computational fluid dynamics simulations and low-speed wind tunnel testing with a force balance and 3D-printed models. The students evaluated aerodynamic performance over a range of angles of attack at constant Reynolds numbers, which yielded key metrics such as lift, drag, pitching moment coefficients, and lift-to-drag ratios.

The team also explored alternate strategies for drag reduction and improved longitudinal stability. The results of these tests highlighted the aerodynamic penalties of float configurations and revealed opportunities for reducing drag while enhancing lift and stability through design refinements. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of optimizing the BWB seaplane concept for improved performance in future iterations.