Recently, Devin, Carol, and I helped with the UNH KEEPERS Camp “Biomedical Engineering” Day. The children were able to have tours of Professor Wayne Smith’s lab, build simple parallel and series circuits, and create their own “Operation”-style board games. The picture below is of me and a student displaying his “Operation” game. It was great witnessing children being exposed to the fields of eletrical and biomedical engineering at such a young age, and they all seemed very interested and intrigued by the science behind the technology they use in their day-to-day lives. I hope every participant will further their understanding of engineering and pursue an education in the field.

-Erika Swanson

Project54 assisted with two sections of KEEPERS summer camp. It turned out to be a great way for the second to fifth grade students to explore electrical and computer engineering. Mark gave tours to groups of the students of a Project54 lab and a police cruiser. While he did that, Erika, Devin and I helped the other students build simple parallel and series circuits that lit a light bulb. It was eye opening to see how fast they caught on to the general ideas of circuiting, even to the point where Devin started to explain Ohm’s Law to them. With knowledge of this they created their own Operation game shown in the pictures below. Both groups of eager students seemed to finish the half day with more knowledge and inquiry of engineering than they started with. I am grateful to have taken part in that.

Carol Perkins

Last week, undergraduates from the Project54 lab visited the KEEPERS camp. KEEPERS stands for Kids Eager for Engineering Program with Elementary Research-based Science. The purpose of the camp is to get young children interested in engineering. One of the tours that the camp went on was a trip to Professor Wayne Smith’s Biomedical Engineering lab, where campers learned about how electrical engineers design prosthetic limbs that react to signals from the brain. Chris Bancroft, a recent graduate of the UNH ECE masters program, gave a demonstration to the campers of how the technology works. He attached electrical leads to his arm and explained to the campers that when a person with a prosthetic limb moves their arm, the brain sends signals to the muscle. That is where the leads pick up the signals and send it to a microcontroller. In the demonstration in the lab, Chris had the microcontroller attached to pneumatic pumps that forced air into a muscle-like air bladder. He explained that when the signals from the brain are picked up by the muscle, they are amplified and then sent to the microcontroller which decides which pumps to turn on and move the muscle, lifting a wooden arm.

Devin Mullen

On the 25th of February Dr Marko Popovic gave a talk at UNH in the series of Graduate Seminar lectures of the ECE department (ECE900). The title of the lecture was: “Many Endeavors a Few Successes; an Ordinary Story of the 21st Century ‘Renaissance’ = Multidisciplinary Researcher”.

This lecture was geared towards graduate students who might be in front of some important career decisions. Dr Popovic talked about his experience of finishing his PhD in physics at Boston University and the following years spent at MIT as a researcher. Among other appointments, he worked at MIT’s Biomechatronics Group on walking biped robot simulations. Using cameras, human movements were captured and used in biped dynamics models. Based on these Dr Popovic studied the true influence of the Zero Moment Point on biped robot stability.

Marko sees his career so far as a series of multidisciplinary research engagements. He gave some very good advices to student at the beginning of their careers: be bold and venture out of you comfort zone in order to achieve great goals. I would like to thank Dr Popovic for visiting our lab and giving a great lecture.

Oszkar

Here at Project54, we work extensively with New Hampshire State Police. Subsequently, we have one of their 2006 Dodge Chargers for demonstrating and testing the Project54 system. One of my colleagues here at the University of New Hampshire, Daniel VanderClock, recently took the opportunity to take some photos of the interior and exterior of the car (some photos are shown below). The entire outstanding set can be seen on our Flickr account here.

Thanks Dan for your all of your wonderful work and we look forward to your future photo shoots!

Mark Taipan

For the majority summer, the bulk of my work on the multi-touch table has been working with Ankit and Oskar on the Google Earth application, in which we have overlayed geotagged photos with additional orientation data as 3-D models. We have added the ability to control the Google Earth application with the multi-touch table using different gesture we’ve designed. We will be using this application in an experiment that will compare two methods of storytelling, one using the Google Earth application and the other using a traditional picture slideshow with an additional map. The purpose of this is to explore the advantages of the overlayed photos as well as the application on the multi-touch table.

We have recently submitted the project as a poster and short paper submission to the Ubicomp 2009 conference and it has been accepted. The conference will be held in Orlando,Fla at the end of September. Below is a video that Ankit and I created to go along with the short paper/poster submission.

Mike Litchfield

For the week of July 13th, elementary school students in the Durham area participated in the KEEPERS camp in Kingsbury Hall. The Kids Eager for Engineering Program with Elementary Research-based Science is a week long science camp that allows the children to develop an understanding of various engineering fields.

The KEEPERS staff that includes University scientists, graduate and undergraduate students, and experienced teachers helps the campers explore fun science concepts through engaging, hands-on challenges. Each day of the week is reserved for a different area in engineering, and while the campers aren’t busy touring Project 54 or taking field trips to area children’s museums, the children participate in experiments that spark interest in science.

When the children were learning about Electrical Engineering, Mark, Eric and I helped them build simple circuits with batteries and light bulbs. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and the camp effectively garnered interest in electrical engineering among elementary students. Many of the campers plan on returning next year, and I hope their interest in science continues throughout their education.

Erika Swanson

We enjoyed the company of the Keeper’s Camp when they visited Project 54. The kids were very excited as we showed them a taste of what we do. Mark, Erika , Oskar and myself took the twenty-four kids around Morse Hall and showed them the show car and simulator.

They sat in the drivers seat of the cop car to give them a feel of what Project 54 is, and turned on the lights to see how its used. We also showed them the guts of how it all works, and how the devices communicate with one another.

They were thrilled to see the simulator in action. Oskar explained to them how we use it for research and why it is a vital testing tool, and not a video game even though it is entertaining to drive!

We were delighted to be a part of the camp’s program, and to be able educate kids about Project 54 and what it is to be an Electrical Engineer. Thanks, and we are looking forward to seeing you again next year!

Eric Ojala

This week UNH’s Tech Camp visited Project 54 to take a look at the simulator.

The tech camp is a program based out of Kingsbury Hall, where kids from seventh through tenth grade are able to get a sense of STEM professions (These include Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). The camp is designed to give students interested in STEM professions a closer look into what these jobs are all about.

Tech Camp students visited the Project 54 simulator, as well as a model of a New Hampshire State Police cruiser. Students were given a short briefing about Project 54, and were then allowed to ask questions about what the system does.

Above: Oskar Palinko demonstrates the use of the Project 54 simulator to UNH Tech Camp Students

Many students enjoyed testing the simulator, which allows the user to get a first hand look at Project 54. Students learned about how the Project makes operating a police officer’s cruiser safer, using speech controls and an integrated computer system, rather than a multitude of buttons and switches.

Above: Mark Taipan demonstrates Project 54 to UNH Tech Camp students with a state police cruiser model.

Devin Mullen

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