Reaction All Years

Project Description:

Powerhouse Designs has been recruited to compose a set of electrical drawings for the first Canadian Passive House Premium residence. This residence is a part of the Passive House Standard, an international standard of building certification that has specific renewable primary energy demands, and in this case requires the generation of renewable energy. This includes plans for the AC and DC wiring, service connection, panel schedule, as well as correct placement for all lights, receptacles, switches, fire alarms and telephone outlets. Since it’s necessary to meet not only the technical requirements but also the safety requirements, it was imperative that all decisions be made and documented following the Canadian Electrical Code book.

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Project Description:

People who are bedridden are often able to adjust the position of their medical bed using a remote control. However, some people are unable to use this remote because of additional mobility issues. Current solutions to this problem are too expensive for most people in these circumstances to afford. This has caused the Tetra Society to propose that an inexpensive voice-activated method of adjusting this type of bed be developed. Because of price constraints, the budget for this project is $500.00. The solution should also provide the ability for helpers and/or caretakers, who are aiding the bedridden person in question, to use the remote in its intended way.

The solution consisted of designing and building a mechanism that could react to voice commands issued to a Google Home to raise or lower the headrest, footrest, and height of a hospital bed. This was accomplished using an ESP32 microcontroller to process commands, and analog feedback servo motors to physically interact with the buttons on the bed remote. The device also has a setup routine where the primary user can calibrate the system, set up the positions of the buttons, and fine tune the control parameters such as what increments in percent they would like to be raised/lowered by.
Fortunately, we were actually able to develop a working prototype for our system to see how it would perform. We ended up testing the system on a calculator instead of a bed remote due to visitation and time constraint issues, but the functionality remains the same. The arm was able to be calibrated and positioned over top of buttons to save the servo angles for when they needed to be called. Then, when a Google home was issued a command like “Hey Google, Raise Head” It would turn on the calculator.

This project was an enjoyable and worthwhile learning experience that has developed a thorough understanding of engineering principles and practices. The project involved designing models on paper, creating them in 3D space within CAD software, and then bringing them to life with 3D printing; or creating custom circuit schematics and PCB layouts to be ordered; along with component lists, and bills of material; or writing user interfaceable programs that operate the system with code derived from control system; and kinematic theory. All of this and more have culminated to be a well encompassed project that has taught us what it takes to develop and construct a consumer worthy product. Though we did not fully flesh out all aspects of the project, with future time and development this project could be turned into a consumer ready device.

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Project Description:

Ingenium is a Crown Corporation overseeing three Ottawa museums, including the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum.
Currently, the majority of Ingenium content exists in physical format, however, they are now interested in modernizing and expanding their digital museum offerings to engage audiences more broadly across Canada. Pandemic-related closures of museums underscored the need to do more than just replicate physical museums on a website to attract an online audience as their ongoing challenge is to attract and maintain a loyal audience in the face of immense competition for viewers’ attention.
Our study first sought understanding of museum visitors’ motivations, interests and perspectives. To this end, a literature review was conducted to gain insight into the current thinking on this topic. This led the research team to focus on interactive digital content that fosters co-creation and social connection in adults over 55.
A survey was administered, recruiting via social media and through organizations and groups that target this demographic across Canada. Semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of survey respondents followed. These data were analysed, revealing a number of key insights, primary among these – this demographic has accessibility needs and values opportunities to learn and to connect socially. From this, Experience Principles and a User Persona were created. Next, the team used these insights and artifacts to ideate potential solutions.
The proposed solution is an online guessing game for grandparents and grandkids and makes use of digital museum artifacts. Grandparents and grandchildren play against each other to gain points. To begin, players create an avatar and select an artifact theme. Each artifact is presented onscreen with the question ‘what is this?’ and a multiple choice response can be selected. After each guess, a brief description of the artifact is given with the option to tag it to learn more post-game. At the end of the game, players are encouraged to share their experiences and even possibly their real-life knowledge of the artifacts in an online guest book, thereby co-creating content for other visitors to view. Players can also share their scores on social media. More advanced versions of the game might include in-game purchases to personalise avatars or the option to purchase merchandise from the online store. Accessibility features ensure the barrier for engagement is low.
This solution accounts for the 55+ group’s desire to learn, to connect to family and share, while meeting accessibility requirements. An additional advantage is that the solution offers Ingenium the opportunity to track interests and use for future marketing strategies.
As a team, we learned that consistent communication was essential for effective group functioning. Also, our research uncovered our assumptions of this demographic, teaching us the value of research in to avoid being led by assumptions. Another valuable lesson was learning to think differently, even with time constraints and required deliverables. UX research requires an expansive, exploratory thinking style, unimpaired by ego and this, while challenging, was very useful to experience.

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Project Description:

The Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI) was approached by Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) to create an opportunity for a student team to gain real world design and development experience. Under the guidance of Research Chair, Professor Jed Looker, our team came together to create a resource repository/information portal for LIP and new Canadians.

As a team we regularly met with primary stakeholders, including manager of LIP Jodi Bucholtz, and her team of staff and student assistants. Through weekly virtual gatherings, we came together offering each of our own unique talents to achieve the end goal we now have. HCDI’s student team contributed to the project via web development, user experience and user design.

The project was completed in several phases across a span of roughly four months beginning in late 2021. The initial phase involved getting familiar with WordPress, gathering ideas and drafting design requirements. The next phase saw development increase as implementation began, alongside a continuing and ever-evolving design process. Then, with a sizeable pool of design requirements on the table development ramped up. From here, consistent work was carried on to fine-tune designs and build out the frame of the article repository. In the ending phases, a huge push to configure and build out each of the 70+ articles written by Jodi and her staff. This content injection phase also involved rounds of user testing to gain valuable feedback on further fine-tuning.

At project end, we finished with a rich, depot of articles, tools, and tips to consult for many of the basics needs and questions a new Canadian might have.

LIPLanarkrenfrew(.ca) is built on the popular content management system, WordPress. Design figures and mock-ups were created using Figma.

You can view our presentation here

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Project Description:

The Transport Canada Airbag Deployment Unit is designed to detonate pyrotechnic devices in a safe and controlled environment.
It uses a custom vice designed to secure devices such as driver airbags, passenger airbags, and seat belt pre-tensioners. This is on top of a Lista workbench and covered by a polycarbonate enclosure to protect people and the environment from possible debris escaping the ignitors.
The deployment unit uses an electrical circuit to ensure that no accidental detonations occur and that the device in question is properly secure in the vice.

The Defect-Related Information on Vehicles and Equipment (D.R.I.V.E) analyses transportation-related accidents and tries to determine the cause so that it can be prevented in the future. Many severe accidents deploy airbags, and sometimes, they can be faulty and injure the vehicle’s occupants more than help them. Transport Canada also receives many unexploded ignitors from accident vehicles. Therefore, they need a safe way to test and/or dispose of them.

Previously, the D.R.I.V.E. team at Transport Canada would attach airbag ignitors to a camera tripod and use long wires to send 9V from a D-battery to detonate the ignitors outside. This was not very safe and could only be done outside.

For our final project, Trevor Lehouillier from Transport Canada tasked us, Project Team F, with solving this issue at the beginning of the fall 2021 term.

The idea for the airbag deployment unit was brought to us by Algonquin College as a collaboration initiative with Transport Canada’s Recall and Defect Department to improve the safety and ease of detonation of vehicular pyrotechnic devices such as airbags, knee bolsters, and seatbelt pre-tensioners.

In most cases, these devices are very safe, designed to detonate within the confines of the cabin of an automobile, and meant to protect the vehicle passengers from serious injuries during motor vehicle accidents. In Transport Canada’s case, the recall and defect investigators are dealing with pyrotechnic devices that have undergone failure during an accident or have been involved in a manufacturer recall by which, their safety standards can no longer be assumed, and they must therefore be treated as volatile and unpredictable explosive devices.

The requirements revolve around increasing the safety precautions and procedures used to investigate these devices by minimizing the risk to the investigative teams. The essential needs expressed by the Recall and Defect Department team focus on allowing for rapid, safe, and efficient detonations all while accounting for unpredictability.
The reasoning for increased handling discretion, as explained by a member of the Transport Canada team, evolved from investigation report data demonstrating evermore unpredictable circumstances of passenger deaths due to minor automobile accidents. Incidents that investigators concluded should have resulted in minimal harm to passengers and no loss of life in which pyrotechnic detonations have been deemed the cause of death due to shrapnel and excessive explosive forces.

The initial information supplied to the project team was conducive to justifying an in-depth exploration of procedure re-evaluation.

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Project Description:

The smartphone app connects to a homebrewing beer machine for the purpose of providing users with an easy install/set-up brewing machine that can be adjusted to meet different beer standards and flavour profiles. Currently brewing beer at home is done manually and usually involves do it yourself set-up. These set-ups are not user-friendly and involves constant monitoring on the spot. Also, the user is limited to only one recipe for brewing the beer.

Currently brewing beer at home is done manually and usually involves do it yourself set-up. These set-ups are not user-friendly and involves constant monitoring on the spot. Also, the user is limited to only one recipe for brewing the beer. With the introduction of PLC (Programmable logic language) controllers the automation of brewing beer at home possible, removing the need for manual handling. Our solution is fully automated and easy to interface via smartphone app, which makes it user-friendly. Our app allows users worldwide to share recipes with each other and the opportunity to interact with each other creating an online community.

This project will include the technical specifications for the Smartphone application and the chips used in the design. The brewing machine is discussed in terms of its logic system, sensors, valves, microcontrollers, and connectivity between the smartphones application and the brewer.

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Project Description:

The purpose of this study is to understand the challenges and successes of museum-based school trips, both in person and virtually, for middle school students and teachers.

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect in-person services and spaces (like museums), it is important for Ingenium to understand how they can offer the same school group experience that is usually experienced in-person, online.

Findings will help inform the development of new virtual education programs for middle school students and teachers. The study can be defined by the following research question:

Among middle school students, how does self-guided exploration play a role in online and in-person museum experiences?

Within the context of our research question, we are interested in learning about self-guided museum experiences both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Project Description:

A mobile launch platform was designed on the basis of functionality, durability, strength, and reliability in order to create a standardized and integrated launch platform to be used by competitors in the Launch Canada competitions.

Currently, the design process for each team consists of building the mechanical and structural components of the rocket, as well as designing and building a launch platform. Due to the competition being judged on the rocket, and not the launch platform, teams see failure in there launch as a result of a poorly constructed launch platform. This issue has been discussed extensively with Launch Canada and Space Simulation Services of Canada. There are multiple issues with the current designs of launch platforms: they are not easily transported, assembled, and erected.

Overall, many launch platforms are poorly designed lacking rigidity, durability, and functionality. There are instances where teams transport there rockets as sub-assemblies to the launch site. An all-too-common occurrence is for teams to be plagued by technical issues at the launch site, related to issues regarding final assembly at the site and not having a platform available to the team to transport a fully assembled rocket.

The Launch Canada launch platform must adhere to these requirements:
-Launch Arm must be 32 in off the ground.
-Launch Arm must be able to pivot from 0 – 90 degrees.
-Launch Platform, Arm and Rail must be able to support a maximum load of 1000 lbs.
-Launch Rail and Arm that are 10 feet in length.
-Launch Platform must be able to withstand temperatures from -160 to 3,000 degrees Celsius.
-Launch Platform must be compactable to be stored in a 20-foot standard ISO container.
-Launch Platform must provide a stable and rigid during launch with less than 2 in of deflection in the X and Y directions.
-Integrated tie down points to secure rocket to launch arm.
-Launch Platform must have an integrated indicator to show the orientation of Launch rail
-Launch Platform must be integrated into a trailer. Trailer should have all standard safety feature and be able to be pulled with a standard 2in hitch ball.

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Project Description:

This project is focused on helping people with temporary or permanent conditions when they are unable to control the flexion of their knee. The brace is designed to be very convenient to use because, unlike a normal brace that keeps the knee in place and doesn’t allow movement, this brace can sense when the knee is required to be locked and unlocked giving more flexibility and comfort while walking. The other smart-brace options that are currently available in the market, based on a similar concept of locking and unlocking when required, are prohibitively expensive and unaffordable for many people who could use them; however, the goal of our brace’s design is specifically to reduce the cost while providing a similar user experience as the much more expensive alternatives.
The knee brace unit is designed around an electromagnetic brake, which has been attached to a series of gears for increasing the torque figures, holds the knee in extended position if the pressure is put on the affected leg. Once the pressure is released from the leg and user proceeds with walking, the unit senses this change and unlocks the knee so that the leg can be flexed (folded backwards) as normal. This cycle of locking and unlocking carries on in accordance with the gait cycle of the user. For determining the phase of the user’s gait, a combination of sensors is used to collect data. These sensors include pressure sensors beneath the foot to determine if the pressure is being put on the affected leg, an angle sensor to determine the angle of the knee joint and detect when the knee is fully extended and ready to be locked, and a fall sensor (accelerometer) to detect any event of user falling or stumbling. The communication between these sensors is wireless and is carried out using Bluetooth modules. All this information is fed to a micro computer, in this case a Raspberry Pi Pico, which has been programmed to take in the sensor data, determine the resistance needed, and provide voltage to the brake to lock or unlock the knee at the right position and time. The system runs on a portable battery pack which can be carried around the waist.

Note:
Our product is a prototype version and is therefore made by using 3D printing methods. Further designs will need to be more durable to support sustained bodyweight.

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Project Description:

Transport Canada has an important duty to assess and support vehicle and road safety in our communities by scrutinizing the automotive industry and ensuring that standards are met and upheld. To maintain these standards, the Defect Investigations and Recalls Division are tasked to test new and, more importantly, defective automotive parts.

Transport Canada’s Defect Investigations and Recalls Division’s main lab is located in Gatineau, Quebec where they are responsible for testing various automotive electrical components to detect and diagnose defects. This lab is where the Electrical Test Bench is going to be located. They also have six satellite offices across Canada. This test bench has all the equipment required for the Transport Canada Team to document faults and explain what takes place at an electrical level with great precision.

Transport Canada’s Defect Investigations and Recalls Division required a device that improved the diagnostics of electrical, automotive components. Our team’s solution was a user-friendly, all-in-one test unit. The electrical test bench provides visual charting of electrical functions with an easy-to-read display.

Tested components are secured with a v-slot rail system and clamps to the bench. The test bench also comes with an ESD (electrostatic discharge) desk mat to protect sensitive circuit components from static electric shock.

The enclosure allows for easy and safe electrical testing configurations. A computer connects to the testing unit via a USB interface to log data and generate reports. The computer screen serves as a display with a Joulescope/oscilloscope-like graphical output to troubleshoot electrical car parts more in-depth.

This project provides an indispensable tool for the Transport Canada Defect Investigations and Recalls Division team which allows them to test and troubleshoot electrical car parts in a controlled and safe manner. With this bench, they save time with a localized, compact area for diagnostic tools.

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