2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 83: Work in Progress: The Magic Orb: A Mechatronics Demonstration and Course Project to Attract Next-generation Engineering Students

Presented at Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE) Poster Session

Open-house events hosted at university labs for K-12 students, typically feature academic research which often requires prior knowledge of the field to fully appreciate its significance. This disconnection often fails to capture the interest of young audiences. Furthermore, these demonstrations may lack interactive elements that prompt curiosity, preventing students from being able to experiment with the demonstrations in a hands-on way. In response to this challenge, we created this device as a "primer" to stimulate students' interest, preparing their appetite for more in-depth academic content. This paper outlines a student-developed project aimed at engaging young visitors at a robotic research institute during open-house events. This interactive device, named the “Magic Orb” demonstrates a figurative orb that hovers on top of the user's palm as it is being moved. To implement and understand this experiment, students utilize applied knowledge in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. The orb will also be used in the future as a course project in three related courses. It aligns with the paradigm of mechatronics education as it encompasses electronics sensor integration, motor control, microcontroller programming, mechanical design, and 3D printing skills.

Authors

Dr. Ruoshi Zhang University of Louisville [biography]

Ruoshi Zhang has accepted the position of Senior Research Scientist at the Louisville Automation and Robotics Research Institute. His research interests include sensor technology, microtechnology, robotics, and embedded systems. He is the author of four journal papers and more than ten conference papers. He currently teaches two courses for the ECE department at the University of Louisville: ECE412 Introduction to Embedded Systems and ECE500 Introduction to Advanced Microcontrollers.
Nathan George University of Louisville [biography]

Nathan George is currently a junior level undergraduate student at the University of Louisville studying computer science. His academic interests include artificial life, automation, real-time simulation, and user experience.
Prof. Dan O Popa University of Louisville [biography]

Dan Popa has over 30 years of research experience in robotics and automation. He is currently the Director of the Louisville Automation and Robotics Research Institute (LARRI) at UofL and the Head of the Next Generation Research Group (NGS). His early research work included adaptive force control and motion planning for nonholonomic robots. In 1998, he joined the Center for Automation Technologies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as a Research Scientist, where he focused on precision robotics and micromanufacturing. In 2004, he became an Assistant and then an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Since 2016, he has been the Vogt Endowed Chair in Advanced Manufacturing and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Louisville. Dr. Popa’s research in focused on two areas: 1) social and physical human–robot interaction through adaptive interfaces, robot tactile skins, and facial expressions; and 2) the design, characterization, modeling, and control of microscale and precision robotic systems. Dr. Popa is the recipient of several prestigious awards and the author of over 300 peer reviewed conference and journal articles, mainly in IEEE and ASME publications. He has been very active in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), including extensive competition, workshop, conference, and journal service.

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