In terms of the school calendar, we are already closer to the end than the beginning of this year. Module 2 and 6 have been wrapped up and they were good ones. On the demo market last week, tons of brain children have been exposed to the outside world. Anyone interested could try out and observe others’ inventions, each more unique than the other. Let us see the revolutions our first and second year students have managed to come up with. Today, we have picked some of our favourites.

This article was written by Jeroen Ritmeester and Marrit Schellekens. Pictures were taken by Charonne Smit and Jannis Brand

FIRST YEAR

Smart Traffic Wave

The Netherlands is famous for many things: their windmills, wooden shoes, tulip fields – even though they were once imported from Turkey – and its abundance of bikes. Especially in a student city like Enschede, cyclists are all over the place. Here in the east part of the country, there is this “3, 2, 1, the light is green, all sides can cross at the same time”-bike system. It works rather well, unless you have just not made it by half a second.

To solve this, one group came up with Smart Traffic Wave. What this neat clump of sensors does, is that it calculates the speed you need to cycle at to still catch the green light. In doing so, it creates a more fluent way for cyclists to go about the city. Using a distance sensor, it detected any passer-by bikes (and yes, it filters out cars further away) to activate the traffic lights as it would normally. Then a timer starts running, which forms the input for the lights on the ground. The light strip grows shorter towards the traffic light as time runs out, until all lights go out and the traffic light goes red. I have taken the picture above and used my stunning Photoshop skills to show you how it works. As you can see, the glowing .png bike has still plenty of time before the light on right turns red. The cyclist knows he doesn’t have to hurry or will end up driving through orange. It worked rather well in the prototype, let alone the performance at one-to-one scale.

Walt

Next up, there is WALT. Before moving, I’ll be honest. I did indeed partake in this project myself. It is okay for me to grab a part of the spotlight, is it not? With that out of the way, let’s see what WALT is about. The name is a portmanteau from wardrobe and vault. It is a safe wardrobe for public areas!

The way this one works is rather simple: you click a button to hang your coat. Next you get an empty spot presented to you from inside WALT’s cylinder, you hang your stuff and save the QR code on your phone. When you’re done, you scan the code, here using a camera hooked up to the interface. This reads the right position and rotates your slot to you. Just pick up anything inside (which should be yours), and be on your way. WALT handles clearing the slot for the next user. Easy as that.

RAVEN

Finally, we’re completing the small circle by going back to traffic solutions. Last but very not least there is Project RAVEN –  Rain Adaptive Velocity Network. Though this acronym is complex, the idea behind RAVEN is very straight forward: rain makes roads more dangerous. Danger causes people to drive slower. Slow traffic should be limited to a lower speed to prevent crashes or accidents. What RAVEN does, is detecting rain by – you guessed it – rain sensors! These are connected wirelessly through XBees to an Arduino. It then sends the data to the central hub where the electronic speed signs are controlled and the speed limit is adjusted accordingly.

Additionally, to prevent speed limits that are all over the place, the matrix that comes before the one where rain is detected also drops its speed. This makes for a fluent adjustment of traffic and a safer environment on the road. Simple? Yes. Brilliant? Just as much.

 

SECOND YEARS

ArachnoVive

Group members: David Bel Lang, Luc Schoot Uiterkamp, Dylan de Bie, Sander Koomen, Luca Batistella.

The prototype they created is a platform for arachnophobia treatment. It is based on giving the treater/therapist the freedom and ability to puppeteer a spider in VR using an HTC Vive controller, according to a patient’s needs to proceed in their treatment. What makes this so innovative is
not only the control it grants the therapist over the virtual situation, but also the addition of haptic feedback to the patient, through simple means of using a fake spider in the real world to touch the arm of the patient with. Thanks to the HTC Vive, the
place where the spider is can be precisely recreated in the virtual world, giving the patient a realistic representation of a spider, both visually and physically. It could be used as a stepping stone to In Vivo exposure therapy, while giving the options of current VR therapy as well.

Programming in primary school

Group members: Pepijn Peeters, Lucas de Vries, Thomas Vrielink, Yorrick van der Ouw

Programming is an important skill in the world of tomorrow.  However children are taught in such a way they are scared away from it. This group found that the best way to spark children’s interest in programming was by telling a story which included programming puzzles. They used Blockly games and a custom created texture pack to create an interesting story with programming puzzles.

THE ULTIMATE COCKTAIL EXPERIENCE

Group members: Niels  van  Huizen (CreaTe), Denise van Ingen (CreaTe), Danique Sessink (BIT), Jordi Weldink (CreaTe) and Rens Oliemans (TCS)

The Ultimate Cocktail Experience; a source of entertainment for anyone wanting to experience something more than just a cocktail. In this Virtual Reality experience, the focus is not only on the graphics, but also on other senses such as hearing, tasting and feeling.

After the VR glasses are put on, and a delicious cocktail is chosen, you will find yourself in a whole other world in less than seconds. Imagine feeling the sun on your face, and a soft breeze, and being able to enjoy the exotic view of a beach while you are sipping your cocktail. Who would not love such a delightful experience? This experience will leave you utterly relaxed and at the same time wanting more. Because who knows, what kind of experience other cocktails might evoke? You will definitely want to know after going through this spectacular experience.

Social encouragement app

Group members: Mahandra raditya, Artemis lykou, Joanne Spijker, Jerre Starrink, Robin van Soelen

The social skills of an average person are getting worse because there are other possibilities such as talking and interacting through applications (WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) Nowadays, talking to a stranger without a good reason is often “awkward”. However, there are some other times where talking to strangers increases someone’s happiness. One of the reasons why some people have a problem talking to each other, for example, on the train or subway is the fear of starting a conversation.

This concept tries to eliminate the fear by giving a reason for people to talk to each other. Moreover, our team wants to create a mobile application (Fireflies) that encourages real life social interactions. The application is based on students who find it difficult to socialize in the universities or schools. The idea of the application is that when two persons get within a small range of each other, they get the chance to invite to meet each other. As an encouragement for meeting, customizable avatars are used. After two people have met  and use the app, the user gets more points to customize it.