CMU is Bringing These Ideas to Life

We encourage entrepreneurs to take the next big idea and turn it into a reality. Thanks to Toyota for supporting educational activities across the university, particularly in the areas of computer science and robotics. The Toyota Ideas for Good Scholars at Carnegie Mellon will focus on green-related education projects.

Robotic Firefighters

Toyota's Ideas for Good asked consumers to repurpose Toyota technology to make the world a better place. One winning idea uses the Advanced Parking Guidance System to make the dangerous activity of fire fighting a little safer.

Automated Firefighting Extension Ladder Guidance System

Project Plan: Use a real fire truck to prototype a sensor pack that is mounted on the end of the truck's ladder. The sensors will communicate with a display that is placed near the operator controls to give the firefighter real-time data to help them make more informed decisions. Much like the nature of the Prius automated parking system, some manual control is still required, but influenced by the data display.

PreBuild: The team will design and build a fully functional sensor pack and operator display system including integration software. The system will be mounted and tested with the fire truck that will be used during the prototyping weekend.

During Prototyping Weekend: The team reconstructed some parts of the sensor system, including minor fabrication using hobbyist equipment. Data streamed from the sensors on a live video feed. Using the sensor system, they demonstrated operating the ladder while using the displayed data from the sensors. A Pittsburgh firefighter was present to see the action.

Team:
Shawn Sims: Team Manager, System Design, Housing Design + Build
Josh Schapiro: Electronics
Dimitry Bentsionov: Application Development
Greg Baltus: Component Fabrication and Housing Fab

Solar Powered Ventilation

Toyota's Ideas for Good asked consumers to repurpose Toyota technology to make the world a better place. Using a solar panel to improve the air quality inside a hut was the winning idea for the Solar Power Ventilation System.

Pure Air

Project Plan: The team will build plywood modular dwelling which will use either the existing solar panel or another panel/s to power an exhaust fan to extract contaminated air out of the dwelling. An air quality monitor will be used to compare the air quality with and without the vent running. A hood will be designed and built that can extend from the exhaust fan allowing the user to target a specific section of the dwelling (eg. over cooking fire). A battery and charge controller will be used with the solar panel to store electricity.

PreBuild: The team will design and build the dwelling, a fully functional ventilation system, and air quality monitor with software for air quality testing. The dwelling will be fully disassembled prior to the prototyping weekend.

During Prototyping Weekend: Using simple construction tools, the team reconstructed a dwelling and cooking area outdoors to allow the solar panels to collect energy. The team also reconstructed a small part of the ventilation system which involved light assembly and soldering of electrical components. Food was cooked using a wood fire to mimic real-world conditions. The air quality sensor streamed the data to a computer which was measured and visualized with and without the exhaust system being used. Expert Dr. Fernando Holguin was onsite to see how the system worked.

Team:
Patrick Miller: Team Manager, Solar System
Nick Teodori: Set Build
Aaron Brechbill: Set Design / Module Design
Shawn Sims: Set Design

Professor Illah Nourbakhsh

Illah R. Nourbakhsh is Professor of Robotics, director of the Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) lab and head of the Robotics Masters Program in The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

His current research projects explore human-robot interaction, including educational and social robotics and ways to use robotic technology to empower individuals and communities. He is co-principal investigator of the Global Connection Project, a joint initiative of Carnegie Mellon, NASA, the National Geographic Society and Google Inc. that developed the gigapixel imaging technology known as GigaPan. He is leading projects to apply GigaPan technology to scientific and educational efforts and to use GigaPan to help students communicate with peers internationally. Recent CREATE Lab projects include ChargeCar, a community-based effort to convert gas cars into electric commuter vehicles; HearMe, a project that uses technology to help children communicate their ideas and experiences; and Robot250, a 2008 project to teach Pittsburgh-area citizens how to design and build robots to address community concerns or express ideas.

His past research has included protein structure prediction under the GENOME project, software reuse, interleaving planning and execution and planning and scheduling algorithms, as well as mobile robot navigation. While on leave from Carnegie Mellon in 2004, he served as Robotics Group lead at NASA/Ames Research Center. He was a founder and chief scientist of Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc., which was acquired by Witness Systems, Inc.

Nathan Martin, Deeplocal CEO

Nathan Martin is CEO of Deeplocal Inc. Prior to founding Deeplocal in 2006, Nathan was a researcher and artist-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University where he led an interdisciplinary team in the development of a collaborative online mapping toolkit.

As a founding member of both an art group and a touring punk/metal band, Nathan has spoken, toured and exhibited internationally since age sixteen. Nathan has over a decade of experience with mobile technology starting in 1999 as Mobile Device Specialist for MetaDesign SF and continuing in his work with clients like Palm Computing, Brodia, Panasonic, and Nike.

Nathan has taught Art and Design at several universities and holds an MFA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, both in Electronic Media Art. Nathan has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work in art, music, and technology, and continues to write and speak about his passion for integrating the artists' process into the design and development of improved ways of experiencing people, information, and objects in this world.