"Smart" Golf Balls, Medication Reminders Among Projects On Display

Golf balls that transmit the success, or failure, of your drive to your cell phone, hand-held devices that remind seniors to take medication, and a robotic Ringo are among the projects on display at this year’s University of Victoria senior engineering students’ presentation and demonstration on July 24 from 4 to 7 p.m. in the lobby of the Engineering Lab Wing.

The projects, each developed by a team of senior engineering students, involve electrical, computer and software engineering; sustainable energy system design, and mechantronics and embedded system design. Several of the projects were developed in partnership with local businesses including the Belfry Theatre and Phillips Brewery.

“These projects are the result of many hours of work by our engineering students,” says engineering professor Issa Traore, the demonstration’s coordinator. “The projects reflect the students’ practical application of what they have learned.”

Golfers might appreciate the Bluetooth practice golf ball which is embedded with a Bluetooth transceiver, a control chip and a power supply circuit to transmit information about your drive to your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone once utility software is implemented.

The RFID (radio frequency identification) prescription drug reminder system is a hand-held device that will issue reminders to take medication at the correct time and in the correct manner, track whether the medication was taken or refused, and allow individuals to record any ill feelings during the day (which can be shared with physicians later).

The robotic percussion instrument can provide back-up if your group can’t find a drummer. The instrument can play rhythms at similar speeds to a human performer on a variety of mountable acoustic drums using mountable sticks. By adjusting the strike location, it is capable of producing different sounds from the same acoustic drum.

The event is sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Victoria section and UVic’s Innovation and Development Corporation.

 

-- 30 --