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