Our student organization is designing and building a rover to compete in the University Rover Challenge (URC). This group was started during the 2023 summer, and the work shown at Design Day is the progress we have made since then. This school year, the team’s focus was to build the base of the rover, which includes a rocker-bogie frame, wheels, a carousel system to complete URC’s Science Mission, image detection, controlling the rover’s movements using ROS, and conducting chemical tests that will be used with the carousel system. In addition, we have been raising money and informing students and departments on campus about this new team and project. Our members have had a lot of fun working on these projects, and we hope you are excited about them and our future work!

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), for males assigned at birth, is characterized as involuntary urine leakage due to physical exertion that can severely impact the physical, mental, and social well-being of those affected, causing around 80% of patients to refuse to seek treatment. This condition can arise after a patient has undergone a prostatectomy, with nearly 71% of cases resulting in SUI. Existing treatments, such as adult diapers, can cause skin irritation and infection as well as incur a heavy financial burden. Others, like clamps, can be painful and may cause urethral diverticulum and tissue necrosis. Moreover, the artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) is prone to mechanical failure as well as cuff erosion, requiring surgery to repair and/or replace. As such, due to these inefficacies, our team seeks to create a novel and comfortable solution that patients may use to return themselves to a feeling of normalcy in their daily lives.

Aquariscope has developed an underwater viewer for the National Aquarium’s new “Inner Harbor Wetlands Exhibit.” Intended to help aquarium guests explore the rich ecosystem existing within the wetlands exhibit, the viewer allows guests to look 360 degrees within a shallow channel containing oysters, fish, grasses, and more. Images from an underwater camera system are displayed on an above-water display. A joystick allows guests to directly control both the rotation and zoom of a camera system, allowing them to focus on elements that are interesting to them.

The Weihs Lab makes extensive use of their sputter deposition chamber. The equipment used by the chamber currently do not have any data acquisition system in place. A cyber-physical system was designed to continually log output data, allow for enhanced programming of the equipment, and automatically report equipment failures.