Develop and Integrate your knowledge in Math, Science, and Technology. Use Engineering Methods to find innovative solutions for complex real-world problems.
Hope you enjoy this new research experience!
Congrats to those teams making major breakthrough today! I believe that
more progresses will be coming soon from all the teams. Here are some
highlights of our first hackathon:
Team 8 got the first-time
haptic feedback from their Senseg tablet and successfully displayed the
US map on the screen! The breakthrough makes the team enter the
app-building phase!
Team 2 collected the first set of images
from the "compound eyes" model using cell phone camera, and patched
them together using Photoshop. This exercise helps the team to explore
the strength and limitation of the current model.
Team 9
successfully separated the red-color object from its background and
displayed it as binary image! They tested the code on the number 3
subway sign and the result was astonishingly perfect!
Team 3 revealed the story flow of their first app for the autistic children.
Team
7 started collecting and processing meaningful EMG data for the pinky
through SpikerShield+Arduino+MatLab. The data collection process will
continue for the rest of the fingers, and the team will then start the
data analysis and classification phase.
Team 1 demonstrated
their drone target-following algorithm. Though they were in the mid of
modifying their algorithm, we could almost see that the drone will soon
following you everywhere!
Enjoy your long weekend and see you next semester!
We are going to have our first whole-day STEM Research Hackathon tomorrow from 9:00 am - 2:45 pm. Within 5 hours and 45 minutes, we are going to work intensively on our STEM projects and make dramatic progress! Before you come to the hackathon tomorrow, every team should set a clear, specific, measurable, and ambitious goal. Send me an email about your goal in writing. We wish that we will have several breakthroughs tomorrow. Pizza and soda will be served for lunch at noon. Near the end of the day (2:00 - 2:45 pm), every team will have a brief demonstration of your achievement of the day. See you tomorrow!
We are going to have our second STEM Progress Meeting next Tuesday (01/09/2016).
Please prepare it thoroughly and be ready for any questions. Each team
will have 5 ~ 10 minutes to present depends on the size of the team.
Everyone in the team should present and participate in Q & A. The outlines of the presentation are listed below.
STEM Team Progress Report Outlines 1. Topic a. Research topic b. Team member(s) 2. Research problem (if your problem stays the same, just briefly recap in one slide) a. Definition & scope c. Expected outcomes 3. Method (briefly recap the overall method, but focus on the detailed methods of current sub-problems.) a. Methods have used to solve the problem(s) b. Evaluation and comparison of different methods 4. Progress a. Gantt chart : current status & next steps b. Project achievements c. Demonstrations 5. Problems & Risks a. Technical issue(s) b. Resource issues(s): tools, materials, etc. need purchase (vendor, price, and time frame) c. Potential show stopper and backup plan 6. References (updated Project Resource page on ....) a. Books/magazines b. Video tutorials c. Websites d. Papers from professional journals e. Thesis/dissertations
Every team member should have the equal opportunity to
present/demo. Group and individual performance will be evaluated by
peers and teacher.
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
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.
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.
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.
