Undergraduate students enrolled in this spring’s ESE 5160 Iot Edge Computing are envisioning innovative IoT devices.
Take the Rover designed by CS Senior Maryam Ali and EE Junior Christopher Connolly. Ali and Connolly’s design takes the basic functions of a Rover: collecting data from an environment such as humidity with an additional element: a solar powered battery. Inspired by the Space Robot, Ali and Connolly will not ship their Rover into the great beyond. Nonetheless, it will mimic what space teams deploy. And its solar battery makes it possible to harness the power used for tracking environments on planets such as Mars.
“We’re designing an algorithm that will figure out where the sun is,” Ali explained.
When complete, the Rover will come equipped with sensors to pull data from the environment, an Internal Measurement Unit (IMU) for tilt detection, and RF circuitry for GPS.
To date, Ali and Connolly have designed digital circuit boards through a program called Altium, a PCB software designer. “They will receive the finished product the first week of April to work out any potential problems,” explained ESE 5160 Instructor Nicholas McGill-Gardner.
Ali and Connolly showed off their 3D print out and computer design during our conversation, explaining how they need to test the different features for reading temperature and the battery, charged both by solar power as well as USB, Connelly noted.
Both expressed cautious optimism regarding testing its ability. “We have gone through different scenarios in class to avoid immediately frying it,” Ali said, adding “we want to make sure it doesn’t blow up.”
As stated, their Rover will remain grounded for now. That said, the Rover’s functionality has “endless applications […] used in many settings such as mapping the temperature of a room,” Connolly noted.
Ali, as a senior, enjoys supporting students through her work as an RA. After graduation, she has an internship with Rivian, an electronic vehicle manufacturer in California.
Connolly already has a senior design project lined up with other CS majors. When not working, he enjoys hiking and performing in one of Penn’s Jazz groups.