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Mechanical Engineering<br />
Plan Bee<br />
Automating Pollination for Vertical Farming<br />
Valentina Gonzalez, Siddhanth Lath, Aiman Najah, Joaquin Palacios, Georgios Thomakos<br />
Advisor: Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy<br />
Plan Bee is an automated pollinating robot intended to increase the diversity of crop production<br />
in vertical farms by enabling pollination in enclosed environments. Plan Bee is a five degree of<br />
freedom robot with on-board computer vision. Operation of the pollinator is simple; Plan Bee is<br />
an independent system that can be easily introduced to any vertical farm plant basin to<br />
automatically identify and transfer pollen from flower to flower in a randomized fashion. To the<br />
user, it is a simple plug and play, with live feed displaying the amount of flowers detected,<br />
pollinated, and left in the pollination cycle. On the backend, Plan Bee leverages a neural network<br />
and DepthAI to identify flowers, determine their location and orientation, and automatically plan<br />
and deploy pollination routines. Our robotic system successfully identifies flowers within its<br />
workplace and pollinates them without the need for humans or live bees.<br />
Keywords: Mechanical Engineering, pollination, robotics, vertical farming, computer vision,<br />
gantry system<br />
A High Voltage Enclosure for a Formula Style EV<br />
Katherine O’Reilly, Sanja Kirova, Matthew Groll, Sergio Santiago, Arlene Diaz<br />
Advisor: Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy<br />
In the "Formula SAE" intercollegiate competition, electric race cars require battery packs that are<br />
lightweight, strong, and secure to power their motors. These battery packs also need to be easily<br />
serviced by a student pit crew and comply with various requirements, such as electrical<br />
simplicity, safety, accessibility, and low center of gravity, as well as a finishing endurance. To<br />
meet these needs, it is necessary to choose an appropriate material, ensure waterproof assembly,<br />
and provide adequate cooling. Our carbon fiber enclosure is the perfect solution that meets all<br />
these requirements and gives you the competitive edge you need to win races. This lightweight<br />
enclosure is superior to steel counterparts, as it can hold 90 pounds of batteries that operate at<br />
high voltage. The structural reinforcement beams and secure compartments ensure that the<br />
batteries are safe and protected. It has impact safety, cooling to maintain a working inner<br />
temperature under 60 °C, and waterproofing to keep the batteries safe in case of a wet<br />
environment. With easy-to-mount lids and accessible connectors, installation is a breeze,<br />
allowing you to focus on the race.<br />
Keywords: Mechanical Engineering, racing, Formula SAE, battery, carbon fiber, battery pack<br />
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