The Vision of Research

Research is difficult. Research is time-consuming. Research is tedious. Research is frustrating. Research is a lonely journey. Sometimes, research is even painful!...... However, a researcher won't be hindered by these obstacles, since a real researcher has seen something much larger than these obstacles, and more important than his/her own discomfort. I'd like to call it the "vision of research". It's the ultimate drive for a researcher to continue his/her journey and reach the final destination. When a person sees possibility out of despair, he/she got vision. When a person sees the huge differences between the current state and his/her future, he/she got vision. When a person sees the overwhelming needs of people and feel constantly burdensome, he/she got vision. When a person strongly believes in something or someway, he/she got vision. There are many researchers in the world, no matter young or old, they made a difference in their community, turn suffering into blessing, and impact people's lives greatly due to their vision. Here are two nice videos that I'd like to share with you for the new year:

•  Luminaries: Prosthetic Arm Engineer Easton LaChappelle. 

 

• New Bionics Let Us Run, Climb and Dance - Hugh Herr

 

Happy New Year! And, got vision?

STEM Seminar

This Tuesday, we are going to have our STEM Seminar. Each team is going to present a short talk (~8 min) on a topic relevant to your research, which will be informative and educational to the class. You are encouraged to use PowerPoint, videos, demonstrations and handouts to help the class understand and grasp the new materials in a short time. Please plan, coordinate, and rehearse your presentation in advance, and submit your topic by the end of Monday (12/07/2015). The order of presentation will be announced before the presentation. If you need any special setup for your presentation, please notify Mr. Lin as soon as possible.

Weekly Progress Report

Project teams are required to post weekly Progress Report by every Sunday midnight. The writing should be clear, detailed and concise. The following list is a template for your report.

• Progress: tasks accomplished, problems solved, questions answered, lessons learned, new idea identified, etc. You might want to include data tables, diagrams, images, or videos to demonstrate your progress. Also include websites/links, books/magazines, video tutorials, hardware/software tools, datasheets/application notes, etc.
• Problem: difficulties encountered, missing information, equipments required, materials missed, open issues, new risks or show stopper identified, personal problems, schedule conflict, etc.
• Plan: proposals/steps to attack the problems, action items for the coming week, experiments to conduct, ideas to try, vendors to contact, updated schedule, etc.

STEM Progress Meeting

We are going to have our first STEM Progress Meeting next Tuesday (10/13/2015). Please prepare it thoroughly and be ready for any questions. Each group will have 10~15 minutes to present depends on the size of the group. The outlines of the presentation are listed below.

STEM Group Progress Report Outlines
1. Topic
   a. Research topic
   b. group members
2. Research problem
   a. Definition
   b. Scope
   c. Functional specification
   d. Performance specification
3. Method
   a. Possible methods/strategies to solve the problem
   b. The method (currently experimenting) & rationals of choosing
4. Gantt chart (Time & Human Resource)
   a. Major activities/milestones
   b. Updates & explanation
   c. Task/resource assignment
   d. Current status
5. Material Resource (Highlight Items Need Purchase)
   a. Tools
   b. Materials
   c. Software
   d. Equipment
6. Progress
   a. Learning progress
   b. Failed experiments
   c. Project achievements
   d. Demonstrations
7. Problems
   a. Technical issues
   b. Resource issues (time, human, material)
8. Risks Management
   a. Potential show stopper
   b. Backup plan
9. References
   a. Books/magazines
   b. Video tutorials
   c. Websites
   d. Papers from professional journals
   e. Thesis/dissertations

Project teams in a group should coordinate with each other to create a seamless presentation. Every group member should have the equal opportunity to present/demo. Group and individual performance will be evaluated by peers and teacher.

Good luck!

STEM Seminar Presentations

For all the groups that have finished your first STEM Seminar: Summer Research presentation should post the link of your presentation file onto your team blog. You can upload your file to Google Drive first and then share the link on your blog.

DOE 2015-16 Scientist-in-Residence Program

Do your group need a technical professional/scientist to help your project on site 2 hours every week? The program details can be found in the link. The application deadline (10/05) is near. Any group (including teams) interested in the program should arrange a meeting with me ASAP to start the application process.

Project Management: Gantt Chart

A Gantt Chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) and dependency displayed against time.

On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top is a suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity. The dependency between activities is indicated by arrows.

GanttProject is free, Java based, project management software that runs under the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. It features most basic project management functions like a Gantt chart for project scheduling of tasks, and doing resource management using resource load charts.

The major features of GanttProject include:

•     Create Work Breakdown Structure
•     Task Hierarchy and Dependencies
•     Gantt Chart
•     Resource Load Chart
•     Generation of PERT Chart
•     PDF and HTML Reports

Resource:

1. You can download the GanttProject form the link (GanttProject). 
2. The handbook of GanttProject  can be found here. 
3. There are many video tutorials on the YouTube. You can start with this one. 
4. A Gantt Chart created last year can be downloaded here.

MOOC Courses about Robotics

Introduction to Robotics from QUT

A college-level introductory course to Robotics. It's a seven-week course, and just started last week. The pace is medium. The course covers the basic theoretical foundation of robotics such that it will be easier for you to learn advanced topics. The course uses MATLAB as a major tool, and you can download it for free.

Course topics:

• Introduction to robotics
• Where things are in 2D
• Where things are in 3D
• Time varying coordinate frames
• Measuring the motion of things
• Robot arms and forward kinematics
• Inverse kinematics and robot motion
• Robot velocity in 2D
• Robot velocity in 3D
• Robot joint control
• Rigid body dynamics
• Robotics and the future

Autonomous Navigationfor Flying Robots from edX

An advanced Robotics course introducing the theoretical background of how drone is working and how autonomous navigation is possible. It's an eight-week course loaded with heavy-duty contents.  However, since it's an archived course, you can learn it at your own pace. The course will require some math background in calculus and linear algebra.

Course topics:

• Introduction
• Linear Algebra and 2D Geometry
• 3D Geometry and Sensors
• Actuators and Control
• Probabilistic State Estimation
• Kalman Filter
• Visual Odometry
• Visual SLAM and 3D Reconstruction

MOOC Courses about Android Mobile Application Programming

Introduction to Mobile Application Development using Android from edX

An excellent free on-going introductory course to Android Apps Programming. It's a five-week course, and just starts the fourth week. The pace is medium. The conceptual explanation is blended with app illustrations, and is very easy to follow. It will be an ideal starting point for people interested to learn Android apps programming.

Course topics:

• Android platform and the Android Studio IDE
• Android components, Activities and their lifecycle, Intents 
• UI Design: Widgets and Layouts, UI Events, Event Listeners
• 2D graphics: Canvas/Drawing using a view 
• Multimedia: Audio playback and MediaPlayer
• Network support: AsyncTask, HttpURLConnection

Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1 from Coursera

A college-style introductory course to Android Mobile Programming. It's a four-week course, and will start a new run in September 2, 2015. The pace is pretty fast. The professor's lectures focus on conceptual explanation only. The programming part is covered in the homework. There are tons of concepts been introduced in a very short time, so it is not very easy to follow. However, the professor gives you very complete picture of the Android mobile programming. As you replay the videos a few times, you will enjoy the thoroughness of these videos. It will be a great place for people interested to learn the framework of Android apps programming.

Course topics:

• Android Platform and Android Development Environment
• Application fundamentals, activity classes, activity lifecycle and reconfiguration
• Intent classes, permissions, and the fragment Classes
• User interface classes

Mid-August? Can You Believe It?

Hi,

How are you all? Time flies! It has been mid-August! I am extremely busy with my Electrovibration project at CCNY. Currently I am working on both hardware and software for my final review meeting next Friday.

As we are approaching the deadlines (some are earlier and some are later) of our second task, I'd like to remind you to start posting your notes onto your team blogs. Congrats to those who have already done so!!! Please also add new slides to your PowerPoint. We will have team presentation when the school begins. If you are ahead of the game, there will be no more formal task assignments before the class starts. However, I do want you to focus on the computer-related skills (operating systems, development tools, SDKs, languages, etc.) during this final precious time. For example, I just watched four-week worth videos from a MOOC course in the past two days. It won't be possible for me to do that after school begins.

I will post various general learning materials in the coming weeks. You can pick up the ones relevant or interested to you. After all, don't forget to enjoy the rest of your summer and have a fruitful learning time!

Voice from the Sea

Greetings! Just came back from a vacation to Acadia National Park, Maine. Enjoy the beautiful blue sky, the salty smell of the sea, the undisturbed pine forest, and the creative shapes of rocks. How are you guys doing? Hopefully you all enjoy your summer so far!

As I almost finished assigning the Research Task 2 to each research team. Our summer research has entered the second half of its course. The challenges are getting tougher and tougher! If you have followed all the assignments, by now you should have some ideas about what research is all about, and what level of dedication is required to really achieve something. 

As you are going through the learning curve of the domain knowledge of your research fields, and brainstorming the possible topics you are going to focus on, your roles and mindsets are gradually transforming. You are in a magic process of changing from a student doing the summer assignments to an independent researcher pursuing his/her vision. When a researcher catches his/her vision, research becomes the most exciting engagement and pursue in life. When there is no vision, research becomes the most boring and endless torturing job. 

So, keep that in mind and catch your vision before we meet again in September. As I always said, research is not just about doing some research work, it's about the person, a researcher. It's a life style! It's a very challenging and rewarding life style! 

Wish you continue enjoying your summer and happy researching!  

Happy July!

Thanks for responding to the invitation of summer meeting! Unfortunately, due to the diverse schedules and unavailability of many members. We will postpone the meeting for now.

The original meeting is designed for teams to make presentations to the whole class. It will greatly help you understand and internalize the papers/materials you have studied, and start brainstorming about the detail project ideas. For teams who have made progress on your study, you can start summarize your notes and create PowerPoint presentations. We will start team presentation at the beginning of the semester. 

During the summer, I am thinking that it might be easier to run some online meeting through teleconference or blog discussion for individual groups, and you will be invited on group-by-group bases.

Happy July!

Greetings from the Computer Vision Lab of CCNY

Hi All, Greetings!

Time flies! It has been almost two weeks into the summer vacation. How were your summer so far? I am currently working intensively on the Electrovibration project at the Computer Vision Lab at CCNY, and will soon start looking into the Senseg Feelscreen development platform.

As described in your team's blog, your first assignment has been due since last Friday. After enjoying the wonderful July 4th weekend, it's time to start working again! How is your progress? I have received very good electronic notes from three teams so far. Please copy and paste your notes unto a post, or provide a link to your notes in your team blog if you haven't done so. If you fell behind the schedule, just post whatever you have to show your progress. I will be posting your next assignment by Monday based on your current progress shown on your blog. In the mean time, you can continue working on the remaining tasks from the last assignment. Even though many of you have jobs, courses, camps, trips, etc., I still believe that the summer is the best time to do research and make substantial progress. So, try to spare some time everyday to work on your project. Research is not an overnight effort, but a long term pursue. You can only see the glorious results through inch-by-inch movement.

 

By the way,  the Open Sunday for the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is coming! On July 12, there is a special event called Exploring the Ultra Small will be held at The Center for Functional Materials of BNL. If some of you plans to go, please comment on this post at the class blog. I will provide you the travel info, and people can go together. Though it is not a formal school trip, I will be there too. It is a place really worth visiting.

In addition, we plan to have our first summer meeting next week. Since everyone may have different schedule, we will try to find the great common factor among all of you. Please fill in the short survey (click the link) by Friday, and I will let you know the result. Hope to see you soon!

Happy Researching!

Summer Research Kick-Off

Hi All,

A few announcements:

1. I will be back on Monday due to finishing the Regents grading much earlier. So, if you have any questions, suggestions, or needs about your summer research, please drop by tomorrow in RM 201.
2. By now, everybody should have received your summer assignments for the next two weeks. Please check whether the links are working properly and pointing to the right documents (I just discovered an error this morning). If anything is not right, please email me ASAP. If you have any question about the assignments, please come to see me.
3. If you need a laptop or any equipment for your summer research, bring the signed Agreement and $200 check in tomorrow (reference to the previous post). 
4. For people missed the STEM meeting last week, you can talk to me for more details tomorrow.
5. Since I am still on telephone standby for the jury duty. I can only "live" on daily basis.

Happy Researching!

Advanced STEM Meeting 06/17/2015

Hi All,

We had a short meeting today for people to meet up with your teams and groups. We have an aggressive yearly goal to participate in some programs/competitions. I explained how the summer research work as both independent (self-study) and collaborative (meetings) efforts. The school will provide us with all kinds of equipments as needed. For a few people who weren't able to attend the meeting, please read the PowerPoint presentation in details. Feel free to contact me for any questions.

By the way, I will be out on Friday through next Tuesday for grading Physics Regents. I expected to be back on next Wednesday if I do not have to be a juror in court. I will keep you posted about my status. In the mean time, it is probably the best time (if you have finished your Regents) for you to do some preliminary search on your research topic for fun, and browse through some links on the Project Resource page of your team blog. I will be start posting your Summer Research assignments next Monday. For people who will leave earlier before the school ends (especially those people who will become unreachable) , email me your date of leaving, and I will give you what you need before you go.

Happy Researching!

The Birth of STEM Project Teams

Thanks for your prompt responses. According to your personal profiles, I have arranged project teams based on the career/academic goals, STEM skills, and preferences of topics/grouping. Most of the researchers got your top or second choices. The following list shows your new project teams for next year. Some project teams share the same topics, but have different focuses. Welcome to provide your feedbacks for further optimization.

Team 1: Autonomous Drone Navigation System in Indoor Environment 

Team member: Owen, Theo

Description: Processing video from the front camera of the drone to recognize and locate the guiding marks, and navigating the drone autonomously from starting point to destiny based on these sensor information.

Core technology: drone navigation, drone video image processing, laptop/desktop application

Platforms/Tools: Linux, AR Drone 2.0, AR Drone 2.0 SDK, Nodecopter, OpenCV

Team 2: Drone Defense System: Vision System

Team member: Adnan, Noah

Description: Developing and designing a proof-of-concept prototype of a projectile-based anti-drone system which can be used to protect the building/property from drone invasion.

Core technology: Sensors,  stereo vision, image processing, computer vision, iOS app programming

Platforms/Tools: Linux, OpenCV, Video4Linux, Beaglebone Black, FLIR ONE, FLIR ONE SDK

Team 3: Drone Defense System: Intercepting System

Team member: Henry, Eduardo

Description: Developing and designing a proof-of-concept prototype of a projectile-based anti-drone system which can be used to protect the building/property from drone invasion.

Core technology: Projectile launching system, robot design, robotic programming, embedded design

Platforms/Tools: RobotC, Arduino, Vex Robotics System

Team 4: Brainwave Controlled Games/Devices: OpenVIBE

Team member: Brian, Sarah

Description: Using signal processing techniques to analyze and classify brainwaves of different mental activities, and controlling games or devices accordingly.

Core technology: Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing, classification

Platforms/Tools: NeuroSky Mindwave, OpenVIBE

Team 5: Brainwave Controlled Games/Devices: NeuroSky Mindwave

Team member: Ty

Description: Using signal processing techniques to analyze and classify brainwaves of different mental activities, and controlling games or devices accordingly.

Core technology: Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing, mobile programming

Platforms/Tools: NeuroSky Mindwave, NeuroSky SDK, iOS/Android app programming

Team 6: Brainwave Controlled Games/Devices: Emotiv Insight

Team member: Isabelle, Harris

Description: Using signal processing techniques to analyze and classify brainwaves of different mental activities, and controlling games or devices accordingly.

Core technology: Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing, classification, mobile programming

Platforms/Tools: Emotiv Insight, Emotiv SDK, iOS/Android app programming

Team 7: Hand-to-Hand Communication

Team member: Julian, Lithu

Description: Using hand gestures and movements of one person to determine those of another person. Detecting the neural signals from the first person, processing and amplifying the neural signals, and stimulating the muscle/ nerves of the hand of another person. 

Core technology: Electromyography (EMG) signal processing, classification, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), PossessedHand 

Platforms/Tools: Backyard Brains Human-Human-Interface

Team 8: Educational Mobile Apps for the Visually Impaired

Team member: Gabriela, Lola, Katherine

Description: Developing educational mobile apps using Senseg FeelScreen Technology. The goal is to add a second dimension to the traditional 1D braille display or audio for the visually impaired. 

Core technology: Mobile app programming, FeelScreen with haptic-feedback 

Platforms/Tools: Java, Android Studio, Senseg SDK

Team 9: General Mobile Apps for the Visually Impaired

Team member: Leslie

Description: Developing general mobile apps using Senseg FeelScreen Technology. The goal is to add a second dimension to the traditional 1D braille display or audio for the visually impaired. 

Core technology: Mobile app programming, FeelScreen with haptic-feedback 

Platforms/Tools: Java, Android Studio, Senseg SDK

Team 10: 2D Tactile Display Based on Electrovibration

Team member: Aaron, Vivian

Description: Developing and designing a low-cost 2D tactile display system based on electrovibration for the visually impaired. The system utilizes an iPad tablet, and off-the-shelf components. It includes the power, electronic, software, and optical subsystems. 

Core technology: Electrovibration, image processing, mobile app programming, low-power DC-to-DC converter, signal amplification, tablet technology 

Platforms/Tools: iPad, XCode, Objective-C, analog circuit design tools

Welcome to Advanced STEM Research 2015-16!

Hi All,

Welcome to the Advanced STEM Research 2015-16 course. The moment you have signed up for this course, you have also become a member of the most vibrant STEM research group in the ELRO community.  

Advanced STEM Research is a yearlong project-based course. The primary purpose of this course is to provide students an opportunity for firsthand, supervised research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. “Research” is defined as mentored, but self-directed, work that enables individual students or a small group of students in collaboration with faculty members to explore an issue of interest to them, to conduct the in-depth investigation/experiments/design, and to communicate their results to others.

In order to facilitate the activities and assignments during the summer and in the new academic year, students who have signed up for the course are required to furnish the Advanced STEM Researcher Personal Profile 2015-2016 form. Please log into your school email account before filling up the form, and don't forget to send yourself a copy of your response at the end. You will have one week (due next Monday, 06/01/2015) to finish and submit the form. Your timely and detailed feedback will maximize your opportunity to land you in a project team of best match.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!

Mr. Lin