Internship Conclusion

For my remaining hours, Professor Dougherty asked that I blog about a business I wished to start. Over spring break this year, I traveled to Brazil with some of Villanova's singing groups. While there one of our service projects was going to an orphanage to help take care of and play with the children there. I was assigned to work with the 1 yr and younger group. Seeing how many children were there and how understaffed the orphanage was really got to me. Ever since then I've been working out in my head plans for starting an orphanage. I haven't conducted nearly enough research yet, but some important questions came up while i was there and since I've been back. The two most prominent are where does the money for an orphanage come from? and how are the children educated? From what I have seen and heard it seems that the biggest problem for many orphanages is economic. Furthermore, there are always stories that one hears about many orphaned children who slip through the cracks, are never given a proper home, a good education, or the necessary support to succeed in live.

My goal is to one day join an orphanage and a boarding school. After getting experience working for and/or with boarding schools and orphanages I believe that I will have a better idea of how to go about accomplishing this. From my initial wonderings it seems that finding a boarding school that is will to participate would be the best place to start. Though I'm not quite sure how to get to the finish line as of yet. My end goal is to have an orphange that could take care of children from birth through high school and finish with helping to get them into colleges and apply for scholarships. Connected to the orphanage would be a private boarding school (K-12) where the children would move once they entered elementary school and stay through high school. This way they could get the quality attention and education that they would not normally get. I am also hoping that by connecting the orphanage to the boarding school that would help solve the issue of not enough money being available to support the children.

Hours 15:15

Internship Day 4

Before going to the Pavillion, I decided to try and familiarize myself with the Navy's SBIR program. I first began by reading through the Powerpoints sent to me earlier by Prof Dougherty. The slide listing the different platforms the Navy needed technology for caught my eye. It occurred to me that the flexbot could be further adapted if necessary to perform non reconnaissance missions. Being able to safely navigate a boat or submarine just as easily as a human, it could also then possibly be used for special warfare or weapons systems.
Next I went through the SBIR website to get a more detailed understanding of how the program works and how proposals needed to be submitted. To get an idea of the kinds of innovations SBIR has chosen in the past i reviewed some of their success stories. As I was flipping through the pages of the 2007 edition I came across Bluefin Electronics Corporation. This company developed pressure tolerant batteries for autonomous undersea applications. Though the flexbot's main purpose is not to be entirely submerged all the time this technology might serve as a welcome addition to the robot. The technology minimizes leakage problems found in other battery types, and can function in a variety of temperatures and pressures. The battery packs are rechargeable and claim to have longer life than comparable alternatives.
I will spend the remaining few minutes looking over the format for the proposal.

Hours 10:15

Internship Day 3

Today I continued researching existing snake robots. I began by watching several videos of the omnitread robot in action. My initial reaction was that the robot was extremely slow in maneuvering around and over obstacles. I feel as if this would be impractical for use on navy ships for example or other marine vessels where timing can be very critical.

While looking through the videos on youtube I came across several other snake-like robots. One of which I found more interesting than the others. Its called Anna Konda and it is designed to act as a firefighter. SINTEF also designed and developed two other snake robots: the Pneumosnake and the Aiko. All of which I can research more later if necessary after I have completed the analysis on the for given to me by Professor Dougherty.

The last two video links were two different videos of the same robot showing different aspects of its capabilities. The first was its ability to climb over objects and the second it speed and maneuverability on the ground. These videos also included footage of a snake robot with the ability to swim underwater as well as maneuver on land.

I was able to find the website that details the design and work done on these two robots. I discovered that the first prototype was developed in 1972 and it required a cord for power. The second model that came out in 1995 was wireless and aimed to mimic the movements and mobility of a snake. This design was improved upon in 2004 with a snake robot with added mobility including the ability to make sharp 90 degree turns. In 2005, the amphibious snake-robot was released. This robot has the ability to maneuver on land and in the water by means of mimicking the mobility and movements of a snake. However, the company admites that it is still having technical difficulties with both of it newer models. Through watching some of the videos on its movement in the water I noticed that it not only had the ability to swim on the surface and dive but it also had the ability to swim both forwards and backwards. Though this may not be a necessary component of the Flexbot, it might be useful for exploring partially or completely submerged vessels.
In 1999, the same robotics lab produced "Slim Slime Robot" for the purposes of accomplishing tasks that were too dangerous for humans such as " in-pipe inspection at chemical or nuclear energy plants and the rescue of victims under collapsed houses". However, given that the robot is not wireless (as seen in the videos and pictures) this design would be impractical for use on marine vessels. Additionally, it cylindrical design also seems impractical in terms of mobility on a ship.

The website listed several other robots which I can continue to research at a later date.

Hours 8:15

Internship Day 2

My main focus today was continuing my research on the competition of Existing Snake Robots. Given a list of 4 by Professor Dougherty I began collecting information on the different robots available or in the works. Before my meeting at the end of the day with Professor Dougherty I was able to make a significant head start on the first two products on the list.

I also looked at a company called Wireless Alert Technologies, which is seeking to find an alternate means of campus security. Though I'm not entirely clear on how the process works, it appears from the picture that students are given a card and a button. My issue with that is that students at the very least at Villanova have a tendency of losing wildcards and keys. Objects that they must use everyday. I don't know how many students will remember or bother to bring their "C-Pass". Additionally, during orientation of freshman year, Villanova issues every student a security id tag with an ID number that one is supposed to put on their valuable items and books so that they can be identified. Though the service is not the same I know very few students who have kept or ever used the security tag. My second question is in regards to the button the information referred to and whether or not it can be pushed accidentally when kept in a pocket or purse and also how exactly it informs the owner of a security issue. Is it audio? visual? etc. Lastly, knowing how poor wireless signals can be I am interested in knowing how (if at all) the product will be affected.

Hours 6:15

Internship Day 1

The day started with me being able to sit in on a brainstorming meeting for the wavecam. Aside from the topic of discussion I found it very interesting that aside from the initial whiteboard drawings, the entire meeting was conducted orally with no one taking notes or writing down the ideas.
Next I read the summary's for the Flexbot Project as well as the the RFID mobile medical unit projects. Given my Coast Guard and my boating background, I found the former to be the most interesting. I'm having difficulty pictures an 8foot long robot being agile enough to maneuver on a ship, especially if its going to be designed for all ships. Many sailboats and even powerboats under 50-75ft have very small doorways, rooms etc. However, given the extreme flexibility and maneuverability its supposed to have, it may not be a problem.
My research task for the day is to (1) Try to find competitors for the flexbot that are specifically designed for ship use and if found look into their capabilities. (2) To brainstorm tasks I think boaters would want or require to adequately analyze an emergency situation
I have come up with about a page of ideas that came to mind for possible functions of the flexbot, assuming they have not already been thought of. I spent the remaining time researching possible competition for the flexbot and though I found several websites and organizations that develop search robots, none of them were for use on ships. Nor did any of them appear capable of such a function without severe modifications.


Hours: 4:15

Interview

I had my interview with Professor Dougherty on Friday, February 20. We discussed several possible paths that I could take over the course of the minor. Given my interest in the biomedical field Professor Dougherty suggested working on a project to develop mobile medical units that can be used for military purposes or perhaps in the future civilian and commercial uses. One possible component of this project would include smart shelves that would sense when and what item was removed and replaced from the shelf. He also suggested a project that involved making portabl suction devices for cleaning wounds in surgery. It did not take long for me to decide that I was more interested in the former.

After returning to my room that day, I found another e-mail from Professor Dougherty suggesting another possible project involving rescue robots which also sounds extrememly interesting. We have plans to discuss this path when next we meet.

Assignment #2

The Company that appeared to combine the majority of my interests together was TATRC. I am particularly interested in their field of medical robotics and am hoping to learn about how to design, build and program them. I would like to gain experience in the engineering side of the medical field. The biggest thing I could bring to them is enthusiasm. Though I don't know for sure what I want to do when I graduate, something that has always stuck with me is that I wanted to make an impact and I believe TATRC is making strides in an area that does just that.

Given my current credit load, it would be easiest for me to make the internship as compact as possible.