Watson seniors present capstone design projects (Video)

Binghamton University student-engineers had the mightiest mouse at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 1 Student Conference at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The team of five electrical and computer engineering majors - Ian Sheers, Duc Ngo, Siaki Tetteh-Nartey, Victor Tung, Bryan D O’Connor - won the MicroMouse competition with their autonomous maze-solving robot in early April.

“We competed second, so instead of having one moment of realization that we won it was a slow process. We had the fastest time, but we were expecting to get unseated at any moment. It was only during the last few runs when we realized that we were still ahead and we began to celebrate,” Sheers said. He was the project’s team lead. “It was mostly a mix of shock and disbelief.”

The team bested rivals from the University of Buffalo, Northeastern, Roger Williams, the Stevens Institute of Technology among others on the way to the title. Each robot had ten minutes to make as many successful autonomous runs to the middle of a maze in a 10’x10’ space as it could with the fastest recorded as the official competition time. The Binghamton entry - a 3Pi chassis with two infrared distance sensors soldered into a 3Pi expansion board - finished in 2:33.

“The robot is controlled with a flood-fill navigational algorithm, and requires no further outside control after you press the start button,” Sheers explained.

The competition was the culmination of the team’s Senior Capstone Design Project that began in September. It was the team’s first competition with the robot and sets the stage for future Binghamton entries.

The project was one of dozens of capstone projects presented by mechanical, electrical and computer student-engineers in the Innovative Technologies Center on Friday.

Other projects included an eye-tracking system for a motorized wheelchair, drone delivery systems, augmented reality, and cyber security.

Every year teams of Binghamton University seniors in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science present capstone projects. Each project is the culmination of not only four years of academics, but a myriad of lessons on communication, discipline, and grit outside of the classroom.

Friday was just the first edition of project presentations as both departments are holding a project expo on Sunday as well. Beyond that, Biomedical Engineering teams unveiled their projects on May 9.