WPI IQP in Santa Fe

Abstract: Simtable wishes to build upon their Simtable environment with two new technologies: Realtime Earth and AnySurface. Realtime Earth allows users to share camera and location data while AnySurface leverages cameras and projections to make surfaces into interactive displays. Our team sketched ideas for combinations of the software and received feedback from experts. Our team then produced two video mockups and a third script with accompanying materials, combining Realtime Earth and AnySurface: a Home OS that connects a user to their relatives, friends, and work all in their home; an Incident Command OS that streamlines the transmission of information between civilians and first responders during a fire; and an interactive system that allows users to interact with the environment.

Working with Simtable

Over eight weeks in Santa Fe, my IQP team and I ideated and proposed ideas for Simtable software. We interviewed fire response experts about Simtable's flagship software, AnyHazard, which simulates wildfires. We learned about two in-development software at Simtable and came up with numerous applications that combined the different software.

SIM Final Report.pdf

Expo Marker Centrifuge

Everyone has been there; you have a great idea, step to a whiteboard and your day is ruined because the marker is dry as a bone. So, you throw it away, not realizing the marker has a lot more life left in it, if you could just move the ink to the tip. I built an expo marker recharging system to alleviate this pain.

'Recharging' Expo Markers

I programmed an Arduino to receive input from a potentiometer to control a stepper motor while an LCD shows the RPM. The 3D printed marker holders spin the markers, moving the ink to the front of the pens.

Gesture Controlled Presentations

I have always wanted to present without having to hold a clicker or step through my slides with arrow keys. My friends and I assembled a team for the MIT Blueprint Hackathon and built a Python tool which receives input from hand gestures to advance slides or perform special actions.

At the Hackathon

Our team assembled multiple interfaces to produce this system. I learned the TensorFlow hand recognition library. I programmed the hand tracking system to queue actions for a PowerPoint Presentation.

USS Constitution Documentary

This project was the first time I performed an extensive literature review and produced a complex deliverable. I was inspired to research the USS Constitution in eighth grade after reading Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy.

Making a Documentary

For this project I produced an eight-minute documentary. The first four minutes gave the history, engineering prowess and naval success of the U.S. Navy while the second four minutes simulated a battle between the U.S. Constitution and the HMS Guerriere. I designed both ships in Sketchup including Cannons, sails, and even flags. I used a physics engine to move the boats along predefined paths and 'crash the masts' of the Guerriere as the battle progressed.

HMS Victory

One of my hobbies since I was twelve is building models. I have built cars, planes, and boats; but my favorite has to be the HMS Victory. While 15 inches long, each section is packed with detail including cannons, windows, and even artwork.

Building a Battleship

The model ship took over two years to build and trained my dexterity as well as eye for detail.

Tetris

Before my Senior Year of high school, I took a day over the summer to tune my Java skills and program Tetris using the Processing IDE. While I can learn the fundamentals of classes and inheritance, putting them into practice in an application solidifies the concepts.

A game of blocks

I pushed myself with this project to apply the concepts I learned after my first computer science class.