Faculty of Engineering

Soccer Robot @ 3rd Inno Show

This project revolves around the construction of a prototype RC soccer robot toy fabricated through laser cutting and 3D Printing. Though the use of basic mBot coding and electronic structure there is flexibility in the design and modelling of the robot itself. This particular robot was designed with a focus on retaining possession of the ball through its unique design, as well as convenient assembly for ease of use. Through this simple design we hope to encourage increased user engagement in the products they buy through creating their own designs.

Enhanced Landslide Mobility Analysis Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a remote sensing technique utilizing photogrammetry for inspection, surveillance and modelling issues. The application of UAV as a surveying tool allows geotechnical engineer to capture topographic data for landslide suspected site is relatively new. It is advantageous to adopt UAV technique to inaccessible natural terrains and unstable slopes which have repetitive failures. Those useful data would be extracted for further landslide analysis, and is particularly applicable for debris flow runout analysis which is sensitive to the topographic profile. Computed result shows UAV resolution accuracy with less than 20mm. This project evaluates the resolution of UAVs and compares their applicability for post-landslide mobility assessment by 2-Dimensional Debris Mobility Model (2D-DMM).

BREED Robotics: World’s fastest Robotic Fish @3rd Inno Show

The main purpose of this project is to show the previous robotic fish and come up with the design and control-system for a robotic fish which is more efficient, faster and easily-maneuverable.
The students worked on the existing design, from the VAYU-project, making it faster and better with the goal to break the existing World-Record as well as supplement the fish with additional electrical and software features like controller, feedback-system and directional-control. Additional features such as servo-fins and underwater camera detection coming in next semester. The project goal is (i) to make the fish controllable, i.e. maneuverable in water and (ii) break the World-Record for the fastest Robotic-fish again.

Smart Ozone Sterilizing Robot

Due to the outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic, over millions of people infected in foreign countries every day. To fight back the coronavirus, we are here to present our product – SORBOT. SORBOT is an ozone sterilizing robot combining AGV technology and ozone generator. Ozone is a non-polluting method to sterilize the air. Robot Operating System will act as a bridge for the controlling programs of both motors and the sensors to communicate and coordinate. Using both cloud and database platforms, we can provide an easy monitoring system for our customers to track the ozone concentration and robot inside a room area. We believed that it is beneficial to the public.

A Smart Robotic Walker with Intelligent Close-proximity Interaction Capabilities for Elderly Mobility Safety

We propose a novel smart robotic walker that targets a convenient-to-use indoor walking aid for the elderly. The walker supports multiple modes of interactions through voice, gait, or haptic touch, and allows intelligent control via learning-based methods to achieve mobility safety. Our design enables a flexible, initiative, and reliable walker due to three main functions. Our walker tracks users in front by detecting lower limb gait while providing close-proximity walking safety support. By monitoring force pressure on a specially designed soft-robotic interface on the handle, the walker can detect human intentions and predict emergency events. Our walker performs reinforcement learning-based sound source localization to locate and navigate to the user based on his/her voice signals.

Smart Mask

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, a face mask has help us to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 viruses. The use of the mask has been substantially increased. For further enhancing the functionality of the mask, it is desirable for developing a smart product with an integration of digital technologies, including IoT, AI, mobile devices, and cloud computing. The smart product has the following features to minimize the spread of the COVID-19:

Chair Stacking System

The Chair Stacking System(CSS) aims to build an intelligent system for the centre that helps to stack up chairs in conference rooms. The chair stacking system detects and stacking chairs automatically. The machine mainly consists of lifting system and robotic arms system, which is programmed by using Arduino platform. The lifting system acts as the basic support, and it controls vertical position of the arms. The robotic arms provide accurate movement to grab chairs in hand. Various mechanisms that are used, including belt-driven actuator, lead screw actuator, rack and pinion, and etc.

Self‐healing, microencapsulation and granular materials

Foundation quality is of paramount importance to all civil engineering works. Since it governs the safety of the structures and buildings stood above it. However, settlement in foundation is found very common, in which it comes as a natural deterioration process. Maintenance work for foundation can be challenging and costly. Having said that, inspired by the adopting of self-healing capsules in concrete improvement, this study aims to mimic and incorporate similar self-healing technology in strengthening of soil.

Performance of Sustainable Cement for Marine Construction

Chloride attack of concrete in particular for marine structures is a serious global issue where it can lead to severe deterioration of the concrete, drastic reduction in strength of structures and safety concerns. The world is urging for a remedy to this situation. A green alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Alkaline-activated Slag (AAS), is found to be having 70%-150% higher chloride binding capacity than that of OPC, making it a potential antidote to this issue. This project aimed to analyse the chloride resistance of AAS in the marine environment, to provide better predict the service life of marine structures and to find ways to enhance the durability of concrete in aggressive conditions. With AAS, let us ‘cement’ a sustainable future.

Preparing a Novel Pressure Driven Membrane with High Performance for Seawater Desalination

Seawater desalination offers the vast potential of producing unlimited clean water. Membrane-based desalination technologies can be used to produce alternation water source. Reverse osmosis (RO) is regarded as a reliable technique for seawater desalination. Most RO membranes have a thin-film composite (TFC) structure, and the performance of the membrane is predominantly determined by the physiochemical properties of the polyamide (PA) layer. The performance and the formation mechanism of the PA layer have been intensively studied in recent years. This project aims at fabricating the TFC membrane using a support-free IP reaction, and to explore the formation mechanisms of the PA layer in the SFIP reaction system. Results show that the performance of the fabricated RO membranes is satisfactory.