Abstract Brief:

The Nerf Turret 2K7 is a system that can freely rotate, tilt, and when instructed, launch its onboard weapons.  A vision detection system will be incorporated into the rotating body that will allow the system to acquire and track the target.  The design objective is to create a system that accomplishes three main goals:

• Acquisition
• Tracking
• Firing Accuracy (Less than 10% error)

The tracking system will have a two-dimensional 180° field of vision.  The intent of this system will be to track targets at close range and trajectory correction will not be necessary.
The technical challenges in designing this system will be linking the control modes and turret action to the vision recognition system.  Initially, a CMUcam2 will be used to provide the vision recognition capabilities of the system.  The servomotors will need to precisely respond to the coordinates given by the CMUcam2 to accurately acquire and release weapons upon the target.  Designing the acquisition mode will also be a challenge – a FPGA, or if necessary, microprocessor will be used to control and interpret the camera’s on-board intelligence and direct the system to the target.
This system, while a relatively simple product, will provide several technical and integration challenges that must be overcome to achieve a working project.  Once the initial design goals are met and the system functions as desired, improvements may be made to make the acquisition components more accurate or versatile

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

The Ghost is a handheld game version of the old but obscure word game, “Ghost.”  The game is played as followed: each player alternates adding a letter to a growing string, with the goal of not being the last person to add a letter that completes a word (words of three letters or less are not counted).  Each player must have some real word in mind that they are spelling, or else the bluffing player loses when their opponent calls “ghost” on them.

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

The objective of this project is to build a machine that will mix drinks requiring multiple ingredients. The drink mixer will provide preprogrammed drink options as well as a manual option for custom creations. The mixer will accomplish these tasks using a microprocessor board as well as a keypad and LCD to input and display the options. The user will input their choice and the mixer will open the appropriate valves to create the selection.  

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

Our project will consist of a transmitter and receivers. The transmitter will use the headphone jack of any audio device to transmit the signal wirelessly to the receivers that will be connected to the line in of any stereo device that will output the music. The user will be able to choose which receiver is activated, one, both or none. The technical challenges of this project include deciding how to transmit the signal, i.e. which frequency is best for this type of application, receiving and demodulating the signal with as few errors as possible, and making the system as robust as possible. The expected outcome of the project will be a practical, portable solution for wireless transmission of audio that fulfills an increasing need for consumers while requiring no technical expertise on the part of the user.

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

The goal of this project is to construct a user-programmable, fully automated pet feeder for dispensing both water and dry food.  The completed product will have the capacity to feed a medium sized pet.  Using an alphanumeric keypad, the user will answer a series of questions displayed on an LCD screen after the device is powered.  The user can enter the number of days to feed the pet, the number of feeding times per day, the time of each feeding, and the quantity of food dispensed at each feeding.  Additionally, the user will be prompted to make a digital voice recording of his or her own voice calling the dog to eat.  The product will incorporate sensors to measure the current quantity of water and food in each bowl.  If the pet doesn’t eat at a specified feeding time, more food will not be dispensed at the next feed.  Water will be automatically dispensed regardless of time when the level in the water bowl drops below a defined threshold. 

Other features include LED strip lights to illuminate the feeding area during low-light feeding times, easy-access, sealed containers for dry food and water, and an external speaker system to alert the dog at specified feeding times. 

The primary technical challenges in the design of this product involve interfacing the external hardware with a microcontroller, creating the digital voice recording system to record and store the user’s voice, and physically constructing the product.  Ultimately, the automatic pet feeder will incorporate an easy-to-use, feature rich feeding system with a physical design that is both robust and relatively light weight. 

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

This project will include the design of and implementation of a circuit board that controls a stepper motor.  The first portion of the project will include research on stepper motors and what is needed to drive them in a smooth yet powerful fashion.  The second part of the project will include the analysis of the signals coming from the computer interface controller to interpret them as commands to be processed.  Next, we will design a circuit/microprocessor board with the capability of controlling the motor and the power circuitry required to control larger amounts of current required by the motors.  Last, a group of these circuit boards will be produced to implement and demonstrate.  The flowchart (figure 1) below shows the basic control flow of the system.

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

The Neo-Picasso is an automated drawing robot. A computer system will control a suspended aerosol spray can using stepper motors and a microcontroller through a cable, and the robot. Then the drawing arm will accordingly move in the x- and y- directions. The robot will need to know how to calculate precise future paths and speed to prevent dripping. Our initial goal is to paint the canvas with a black spray paint. If time is allowed, we will try to modify the design so that Neo-Picasso can paint the image in multi-colors.

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

Students will design a portable device intended as a universal instrument acoustic tuner.  The device will have a receiver that picks up the frequency that the instrument is outputting and mix it with stored musical note information.  
A simple UI will help the user navigate which instrument they are tuning.  This is done via a simple text interface displayed on a LCD and inputs are received from the keypad.  When the right frequency is reached a LED will indicate that the user has reached the right frequency for that note, meaning it is tuned. 

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

This project entails designing hardware and software to make an inverted pendulum remain upright. The pendulum will hang freely on an axle so that it can swing clockwise and counterclockwise. The axle in turn will be able to move along a straight line along the direction in which the pendulum swings. By dynamically driving a motor which moves the axle along a track according to the motion of the pendulum, the pendulum will be prevented from falling from the upright position.

The problem of controlling an inverted pendulum in this manner is classical to control systems, since the system is inherently unstable – the pendulum will not remain upright without external forces. This type of system is also very difficult to control manually, and therefore requires the use of electronic controls.

In this project, a control algorithm will be developed and implemented digitally, using a microprocessor and sensors, and a working demonstration will be built. Ultimately, this project will show the effectiveness of a digital control system to stabilize an inverted pendulum quickly, and it will demonstrate the robustness of the controlled system to unexpected disturbances. 

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

Our project concept is simple – modify a punching bag in such a way that it can give a numerical display of how much force it was struck with.  The hardware for this would entail a sensor (at this point, we are using an accelerometer), a microprocessor, and an LCD readout screen.  More advanced versions (in other words, if we get the basics to work) will have some memory, and can record the highest value of a given session, and can even record multiple force readings for multiple hits.  Even more advanced versions can record the time in between each hit, can display force in both English and metric units, and will have a wireless connection between the sensor/bag and the LCD screen.

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

This project will be about the design, implementation, and fabrication of an extremely versatile serial interface device.  The “Super” Serial Board will give the user a variety of legacy serial interface options and USB expandability from a single Universal Serial Bus port found on any modern computer.  The result will be an extremely useful tool for developers and engineers who routinely find the need for the older but still venerable RS-232 and RS-422 protocol based interfaces.

(Complete abstract available below)

Abstract Brief:

The Gator microprocessor or GµP is a central processing unit to be used for education and research at the University of Florida. This processor will be realized on a development board that will be constructed in the course of this project.  The board will contain a programmable gate array, in this case a FPGA. Using this FPGA we can dynamically build and test the CPU by describing and synthesizing it using a hardware description language. The processor will be instruction set & machine code compatible with the Motorola/Freescale 68xx microprocessors. This will allow us to use the extensive library of compliers, assemblers and other tools already available.

(Complete abstract available below)