DCU Expo 2024 - Final Year Projects

56 78. Soft Exoskeleton Design andDevelopment Traditional soft robotic gloves are often clunky and heavy, which hinders their ability to be used for extended periods and impacts power consumption. This makes it difficult for people of all ages, including seniors and children, to use themwithout strong armmuscles. To address these issues while improving grip strength, the project set out to create a soft, lightweight robotic glove using shape memory alloys to actuate finger movements. A new type of glove has been created that utilises coiled and heat-treated nylon wire to forman artificial muscle. This glove reduces clunkiness and weight, making it possible for the user to easily grip objects due to the contractive power of the coiled wire. The artificial muscles are controlled via a push-button activator for ease of use. Student Programme Mechatronic Engineering (Year 5) Project Area Arduino, Control Systems, Device Design, Mechatronic Systems, Robotics, Wearable_Technology, Rehabilitation Engineering, Materials Testing, Soft Robotics Project Technology Excel/VB, Solidworks, Arduino IDE Student Name(s) Ruairí Coulter Email ruairi.coulter2@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr Shirley Coyle 79. Material Selection and Fabrication of Neurosurgical Brain Phantoms This project focuses on selectingmaterials for creating neurosurgical brain phantoms. Various materials underwent mechanical property testing, including tensile, compressive, and needle insertion tests, to assess their suitability for the application. The behaviour of these materials was observed to determine their compatibility. Freeze-thaw cycles were utilised during sample fabrication to evaluate the impact of cycle numbers on mechanical properties. Results were compared to those obtained from real brain tissue samples to identify the most suitable material. Subsequently, the chosen material was moulded into a brain shape to produce the final product: a brain phantom. Class Biomedical Engineering (Year 5) Project Area Biomedical Engineering, Educational, Materials Testing Project Technology Solidworks Student Name(s) Grainne Gordon Email grainne.gordon2@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr Garrett McGuinness 80. D&DSL This project involves a domain specific programming language for use in the simulation of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) play as defined in their fifth edition rules. The language contains support for simulating multiple characters and entities, as well as generating assets for users like lists of townspeople or random treasure, enhancing the physical play of D&D. Users can also plan ahead and create balanced encounters and exciting stories to simulate before hitting the table. The language is an efficient and useful way to store andmanipulate lots of information to do with the play of D&D and can assist those with both an entry-level and deep understanding of programming. Users can add their own libraries of abilities and rules if they so choose as well. Student Programme Computer Applications Project Area Automation, Data Analytics, Databases, Gaming, Simulation, Software Development, Domain Specific Languages Project Technology Java Student Name(s) Daniel Christie Email daniel.christie5@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr David Sinclair