Developing a Skin Phantom for the Testing of Biowearables

There is a demonstrated need in the biowearables industry for a benchtop model that can accurately emulate the perspiration mechanism and corresponding impedance vs. frequency spectra of skin. This model, or skin phantom, could increase the efficiency and accuracy of early-stage testing of biowearables, as well as minimize animal, human, and cadaver testing. The objective of this project is to develop a skin phantom that can emulate the perspiration mechanism and impedance spectrum behavior of human skin for the testing of biowearables in the 2,000 - 20,000 Hz range. We also endeavored to create computer-simulated models to aid in the optimization of our phantom. We designed a three-layered, PDMS-based physical model based off of the skin’s sweat duct and pore structure that closely matched skin’s impedance vs. frequency behavior. Our computer simulations validated our understanding of the material properties that made our phantom a good match for human skin. While we were unable to complete all desired experiments due to campus closure, we were successful in designing and building a skin phantom that accurately mimicked the desired skin properties, while also being reusable, non-toxic, and easily manufacturable. Further experiments should be done to validate and improve our computer simulations and mathematical models. Further manipulation of our skin phantom’s factors should be done to match the skin’s impedance vs. frequency behavior more closely

A Proposed Approach to Mechatronics Design and Implementation Education-Oriented Methodology

Mechatronics engineer is expected to design engineering systems with synergy and integration toward constrains like higher performance, speed, precision, efficiency, lower costs and functionality. The key element in success of a mechatronics engineering education-program, and correspondingly, Mechatronics engineering graduates, is directly related to a well-structured mechatronic system design course and the applied structural design methodology. Guidelines for structural design methodology and tools for the development process of mechatronic products, that can be applied in educational process is highly required. This paper proposes mechatronics systems design education-oriented methodology, which aims to integrate multidisciplinary knowledge, in various stages through the design process and development of mechatronics product. The proposed mechatronics design methodology is described, discussed and applied with the help of example student final year graduation project; design and implementation of mechatronics mobile robotic guidance system in the from of smart wheelchair- Mechatronics Motawif, to help and support people with disabilities and special needs to perform specific predetermined tasks, particularly, performing Al Omrah and motion around holy Kaba, Makka. Keywords: Mechatronics, Design methodology, Parallel design, Synergistic integration, Modeling/ Simulation, Prototyping, Mobile robot, Motawif

Design and implementation of a digital thermometer with clock

In this paper, the design of a digital thermometer with clock is presented. The design was achieved using ATMEGA 328P PU Microcontroller Unit, MLX90614 Infrared Sensor for achieving contactless measurement (wireless) and the DS1307 Real Time Clock (RTC) for accurate time keeping during the measurement of this parameter.The MLX90614 is factory calibrated in wide temperature ranges from - 40 ºC to 125ºC for the ambient temperature and -70 ºC to 382.19ºC for object temperature, while the DS1307 is a low-power clock/calendar with 56 bytes of battery-backed serial random access memory (SRAM). Power is supplied using a regulated 9 V DC battery. The microcontrollers and RTC chip are powered by 5 V DC. The temperature sensor and liquid crystal display (LCD) require 3.3 V DC for operation and are supplied by passing the 5 V DC through a variable resistor. The sensors output values are both fed into the microcontroller. While monitoring temperature and telling time, the microcontroller sends the measurements in form of digital signal to the LCDs for display.This design was compared with a standard infrared thermometer by taking the body temperature measurements of two individuals at different times of the day. It was observed from the results that the difference between the temperature readings of the two thermometers ranges from 0 to 1 °CKeywords: Infrared sensor, digital thermometer, microcontroller, real time clock, temperatur

Electrical Consumer Panel with Automated Leakage Current Detector System

In this research work, automated leakage current detector for electrical consumer panel is carried out. Residual Current Device (RCD) is protection equipment that install in the panel for every building where power supply is required. RCD detects leakage current by monitoring the current in both phase and neutral. Mechanical switch has been developed to trip RCD when there are any differences in between these two current. As RCD tripped, power supply cutoff immediately, the developed automated system can detect the Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) consists of leakage current. The system will generate instructions to user to open the particular MCB(s) which consist of leakage current and close the RCD to gain back power suppl

On Sensor-Based Ore Sorting

The high cost of mineral processing in mining industries keeps rising. Sensor-based ore sorting is key in helping the mining industries to sort out ore to help reduce the processing and production costs. With the implementation of sensor-based ore sorting at the primary stage, it assures of separating larger volumes of the barren gangue from the conveyor-transported ore before excessive handling and mixing occurs. Hence, this paper investigated and evaluated the deployment of the colour camera and the dual energy X-Ray sensors. The successful operation at 2.8 m/s and 3.2 m/s of conveyor speed, and relatively extreme positions of the air jet-based separation mechanism for the sorting proved robustness in separation of barren gangue from the ore feed

Developing wireless ECG device using Bluetooth protocol for interfacing with Android based applications

The current project involves the development of a wireless ECG recorder and an android application that can be integrated smoothly for use by health-conscious people or cardiac patients and clinicians as well for self-monitoring and feedback respectively. Briefly, the hardware as well as software for a wireless ECG device were designed and developed that was integrated with Android based application to display and records the user's ECG signal. The hardware incorporated microcontroller, MSP-430 that detected the cardiac signal and performed analog to digital conversion (ADC), digital filtering, QRS complex extraction and heart rate calculation using specific algorithms. During validation, the prototype successfully recorded the cardiac electric signals originated by subject’s heart with distinct QRS complex and T peaks. However, a distinct P wave was lacking. Further, the signal was rectified and the background noise was amplified followed by amplifying the signal to a tractable level. Next, the signal was communicated to an android device using Bluetooth protocol by HC-05 Bluetooth module. The signal was successfully displayed graphically, and the data was stored after being digitalized for future referencing and processing using advanced algorithms. The developed prototype is a robust, accurate and low-cost ECG recorder with wireless signal transmission to android device. The hardware incorporates distinct filter and amplification system to eliminate artifact from active movement. The use of adaptive filter is proposed for possible future improvement, with the main goal being to build the amplification and filter system which communicates with an Android smartphone application

A multi-robot educational and research framework

Robots have greatly transformed human’s life. Multi-disciplinary research in robotics essentially demands having sophisticated frameworks with diverse range of capabilities ranging from simple tasks like testing of control algorithms to handling complex scenarios like multiple robot coordination. The present research addresses this demand by proposing a reliable, versatile and cheap platform enriched with enormous features. The framework has been conceptualized with three robots having different drive mechanisms, sensing and communication capabilities. The proposed ‘Wanderbot’ family consists of ForkerBot, MasterBot and HexaBot. The ForkerBot is a four-wheeled robot equipped with ultra sonic range finder, wheel encoder, bump sensor, temperature sensor, GSM, GPS and RF communication modules. The robot, having a payload capacity of 8 pounds, supports both Differential and Ackerman drive mechanisms and can be used to validate advanced obstacle avoidance algorithms. The MasterBot is also a wheeled robot with an on-board camera and is skid-steered. The robot finds potential in research on image processing and computer vision and in analysis and validation of algorithms requiring high-level computations like complex path traversal. The third member in the Wander family, HexaBot, is a six-legged robot, which is able to exhibit the movement of tripod gait and can be used for investigating walking and climbing algorithms. The three members of Wander family can communicate with one another, thus making it a good candidate for research on coordinated multi-robots. Additionally, such a prototyped platform with vast attractive features finds potential in an academic and vocational environment