The company provides a description of the general background and needs for their real-world problem, along with desired solution requirements and specifications. The description must not contain any stakeholder proprietary information, or unprotected intellectual property (IP). At the beginning of the semester (or even prior to that), student teams interact with industry sponsors and/or faculty to develop a solution proposal for a system or application, component or process to meet desired needs and specifications within constraints.

EXAMPLE

Project Title: Back Injury Prevention System

Project Description: Background/Problem/Need:
Back injuries are common in the workplace. For example, in healthcare settings, a staggering 4% of direct care injuries are injured every year. The majority of those are back injuries caused by lifting and transferring patients. Most back injuries can be preventable by following proper lifting techniques. Proper lifting techniques include lifting with your legs, keeping an upright posture, maintaining a wide stance, and not twisting your spine. These motions can be automatically detected in near real-time using a wearable motion tracking system. This work expands on previous research conducted by Prof. Muckell in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Prof. Young in Public Health. The goal is to expand their current wearable system of injury detection to include (1) a spine model to better approximate risk of injury, (2) improve the ability to detect lifting in real-time by simulating feet pressure sensor data, and (3) to include individual patient metrics (height, weight, age, etc..) to better approximate injury risk.

Project Requirements and Specifications:
1) Development of a model used in conjunction with motion capture data to detect the amount of force perpendicular to a person’s spine. Using that data to approximate injury risk

2) Simulating data from pressure sensors on a person’s feet. Using that data to determine model when a person is lifting substantial weight and approximate force on a person’s spine.

3) Use individual patient metrics (height, weight, age, etc..) to better approximate injury risk.

Desired Student Skills:

· Familiarity with python programming language

· Knowledge of basic physics and mechanics

· Basic understanding of human physiology and anatomy

· Comfortable working with motion-sensing technology

· Ability to work as a team and provide extensive documentation towards work