Page 6 - InSights_Fall_2016

EXPLORING NEW ENGINEERING AVENUES
At the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at California State University, Los Angeles, faculty members encourage students to pursue competitive and entrepreneurial opportunities outside of the classroom to prepare them for fast-paced careers after graduation. Two groups of students took up this challenge of hands-on education with enthusiasm.
Innovating Biomedical Breakthroughs
“The students’ involvement in NSF I-Corps began with an informal design contest put on by our Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) student organization during ECST Week,” says Deborah Won, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the faculty adviser for BMES.
Dr. Won explains, “We asked students to
Cal State LA NASA Swarmathon team members, pictured with ECST First Year Experience program students and California State University Trustees Rebecca Eisen and Lillian Kimbell, show o autonomous robots used to navigate remote locations – from the ocean oor to the surface of Mars.
A cross-disciplinary group of engineering and computer science students recently qualified for a National Science Foundation (NSF) microgrant for a new biomedical device they developed through a program designed to increase entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, known as the NSF Innovation Corps (I-CorpsTM).
I-Corps is a set of activities and programs that prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and broadens the impact of certain NSF-funded research projects. The programs teach grant recipients to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research and recognize an immediate potential for impact in the commercial world.
The team’s biomedical device could change the lives of stroke patients throughout the world.
And, this spring, a team of electrical and mechanical engineering and computer science students became one of 12 teams in the country chosen to travel to the Kennedy Space Center for the first NASA Swarmathon, an innovative swarm robotics competition.
come up with a conceptual design for a computer game that would encourage pediatric cerebral palsy
patients to improve their hand motor skills. Jonathan Rey, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering with a biomedical engineering minor, won the contest with the idea for an interactive game in which the player controls colored lights on a display using a smart glove with embedded tactile sensors.”
Building upon this concept, Rey and his fellow BMES students created a LabVIEW prototype of his Recovery Glove System. The students then modified the game design for use by stroke patients.
The game encourages a patient to produce the hand movements required for physical therapy. With each movement, an electrical signal is sent through the smart glove to the computer.
“Fun activities, through which users can see a 3-D model of their hand and earn points, motivate them through a tedious, and sometimes painful, therapy process,” explains Rey.
“Pushing people to go further speeds recovery time. We want our product in the hands of anyone suffering from fine motor skill deficiencies, and stroke is the leading cause of this disability in America.”
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