Previous ASME Award Winner
Recent Departmental Runner Up Awards
Capstone Design Projects
The Dark Cool Helmet
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 8
The "Dark Cool Helmet" Project, sponsored by Wearable Sensing, aims to improve their fNIR+EEG headset product's reliability. Designed to prevent sensor saturation from sweat or light intrusion, the project also prioritizes user comfort, marketability, and product longevity. By utilizing active cooling and light-blocking subsystems, combined with custom and off-the-shelf components, the helmet promises an affordable, reliable solution.
Illumina Fluid Cartridge Project
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 21
Illumina shipped their fluid cartridges with dry ice to keep reagents at the right temperature but due to environmental impact and shipping costs, the company decided to use lyophilization. The reagents are dehydrated and rehydrated back on site so the company needs an efficient mixing strategy to make genome sequencing more efficient.
Air Powered Soft Robotic Toy
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 22
Team Members
Sofia Guerrero
Gabrielle Hart
Drago Vasile
Hector Arredondo
Antoinette Gautier
The goal of this project was to improve on the design of the "Huggable Pet", a soft robotic toy for children ages 6-12 that is designed to hug using a completely air powered system.
SE ARMOR Lab Smart Pill Bottle
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 23
Partnering with UC San Diego's Active, Responsive, Multifunctional, and Ordered-materials Research (ARMOR) Lab and SANO Healthcare Consultants, our project aims to produce a custom pill bottle cap that is able to dispense a single pill at a time for different types and shapes of pills, and be operated by one hand with a low-cost multifunctional cap
Smartfin
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 27
In order to keep track of climate change, it's important to measure oceanic data from all areas of the ocean; however, shorelines are difficult to measure due to their constantly changing environments. In order to combat this issue, the Smartfin was made. The Smartfin is a custom surfboard fin that can measure oceanic metrics using embedded electronics. Our team's goals were to create a documentation process for the construction of these fins, and to strengthen them.
Instrumented Epidural Needle Injector
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 31
This device uses two pressure sensors and a piezoelectric pump to measure the pressure drop in the system as the needle advances through the different layers of a patient’s tissue. The device attaches to an epidural needle, accurately detects the resistance the needle feels, and notifies the doctor once the needle enters the epidural space.
High-precision system for humidifying dry air streams in greenhouse gas analyzers
2022-2023 - Spring
Team: 29
The high-precision system for humidifying dry air streams in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) analyzers is necessary for researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography to accurately measure GHG content in the atmosphere. This requires the introduction of a stable air sample with adjustable moisture content into their GHG analyzers. This project’s goal is to design a mixing chamber and attached piezo circuit to atomize dry air to a range of 0.01-1% that can be used to calibrate the optical GHG analyzers.
Sustainable Flow Chemistry System
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 3
Team Members
Eden Detmer
Zaivy Gonzalez Valencia
Shravan Suresh
Nhat Tang
Flow chemistry systems provide a safer and more efficient means to conduct chemical reactions that traditional laboratory methods. Commercial flow systems are prohibitively expensive, so, many low cost, DIY flow systems have been developed. This project focuses on improving existing DIY flow systems to enhance functionality and usability.
Neubo Air Soft Robotics
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 14
The aim of this project is to expose society to soft robotics by creating a user-friendly toy that is completely air-powered for children 6-12 years old, in order to spark their interest in engineering and revolutionize the toy industry. The team built a toy dog, in which the user can control its tail wagging and tongue licking motions.
Triton Solar Car Front Suspension System
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 4
Team Members
Vivian Chou
Leonardo Duga
Tsz-Wai Kwok
Zhenlin Liu
Shenglin Yang
Solar Cars are designed to be extremely aerodynamic and lightweight as possible, to maximize efficiency using available energy from the sun. As the Solar Car is a road vehicle that will be run on freeways, it must be able to withstand loads from uneven road conditions, while protecting the driver and the car. The suspension systems designed in this project must meet these requirements, and additional objectives were considered to optimize performance.
SIO Drone-Based Air Sampling Device
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 15
The Keeling and Weiss Labs at Scripps Institute of Oceanography are world-renowned for their work in tracking the rise of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere over the past few years. It is crucial that air samples collected by these labs are uncontaminated by local emissions so they must be sampled at high altitudes to rule this out. Our project uses a drone as a "mobile" sampling tower that can fly a tube high into the air to collect the needed samples.
Baseball Fielding Machine
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 1
Our design allows for a more economical system that allows players to practice defensive fielding without the need for other players or coaches while still being affordable for most of the baseball communities. "The Trainer" was designed to be an automated baseball fielding machine that will allow for individual fielding practice for all different types of players.
iAssay Miniature Thermal Cycler for PCR & Isothermal Reactions
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 13
The objective of this project was to design and prototype a biological thermal cycler capable of controlling the temperature of 10-50 μL of liquid inside a PCR tube in the range of 4 °C to 95 °C at a temperature ramp rate of 0.5 °C/sec or higher packaged in an enclosure of the following dimensions: 50.8 mm x 127 mm x 50.8 mm (2” x 5” x 2”). The overall goal is to be able to conduct a PCR reaction on the spot of sample collection.
Pull-up Power Meter
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 5
Athletes are susceptible to developing strength imbalances between the two sides of the upper body due to sport or injury. We developed a tool to quantify this imbalance. Our solution is a device consisting of a load cell, a microcontroller, and a battery that can be used in pairs connected to existing workout equipment, such as suspension training straps.
ARMOR Lab Field Deployable Wearable Sensors
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 16
Team Members
Philip Baumsteiger
Carlos Guerreros
Devavrath Hemantha Kumara
Adolfo Lopez Miranda
The aim of this project was to design and prototype a portable, wireless, data acquisition sensing node that can reliably measure data from a nanocomposite skin-strain sensor during outdoor, athletic training environments.
Dermal Cooling Vest
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 6
We designed and prototyped of a water circulated cooling vest to mitigate heat-related illnesses for personnel in hot and humid environments. We implemented a refrigeration system to replace the Peltier Plates used in previous iterations of the vest.
Aerial Wildland Firefighting Foam Delivery Chute
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 12
An expandable and contractible chute based on the origami of Kresling folding pattern. To be used as a conical guide for fire retardant foam in the form of bubbles that help suffocate and cool wildland forest fires. This design iteration potentially allows for a revolutionary system to deploy its suppressant effectively from the bottom of a specifically outfitted helicopter to the ground below.
Mechanical Design of Control Solution for Autonomous evGo-Kart
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 7
Design, source, and install braking and steering systems for an autonomous go-kart that accepts computer inputs while allowing the human driver to override the mechanisms by pushing the manual control or Emergency off (EMO) button.
Simons Array PB-2B Receiver Cradle
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 19
The goal of this project is to understand the current issues with the Simons Array Hoist Assembly and recommend any alternative approaches to improve safety and reliability concerns. For the mechanical design, the team's goal is to create a cradle that will support the receiver on all sides by minimizing major stress points and will contain lifting points for chains and straps, while also avoiding interference with other parts of the telescope.
Scripps Buoy Radar Project
2021-2022 - Winter
Team: 8
In the past the CDIP purchased an off the shelf Mobri radar reflector, which would end up breaking off the buoy and when attached returned a signal that was weak and not visible at a distance of 100m. Our goal was to help illuminate the buoy's location on radar screens while not affecting the data collected by the buoy. Long term the CDIP needs to see an increased up time for their buoys.
Bioabsorbable Staples
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 21
Bioabsorbable staples and endoscopic stapler modified to deploy staple design; specific to wound closure in laryngeal surgeries.
Pneumatospinning Apparatus for Tissue Engineering
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 7
Improve the experimental process of pneumatospinning scaffolds by creating a modular chamber with the ability to control different parameters. By improving the ability to tissue engineer scaffolds, this device will allow for further research and development for the surgical replacement of torn menisci.
Digital Canine CPR Performance System
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 9
Rescue Critters ® is a company that manufactures animal mannikins for training purposes, most notably health education services. These devices are meant to give the user the ability to hone their skills and knowledge without harming real life animals. Existing CPR models are used as first aid training devices. These models have working lungs and simulate mouth-to-snout resuscitation.
Novel Otoscopy Skills Trainer
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 4
Team Members
Jordan Luk
Nathan Chiu
Matthew Lau
Hao Guan
The purpose of this project is to develop a novel otoscopy skills trainer to help improve the ear exam skills of medical students and residents.
Triton AI Autonomous GoKart
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 3
Triton AI is a student organization at UCSD, led by academic advisor Dr. Jack Silberman, that focuses on learning artificial intelligence and applying that knowledge towards competing in various robot competitions. Our task is to make a reliable electric kart for the software team to develop AI algorithms and compete in Autonomous Electric Kart Racing events.
Next-gen Respirator For Healthcare Workers
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 2
During the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years, despite being provided with N95 masks and other personal protective equipment, many health care workers were still infected with COVID-19, some even had debilitating situations and ended up staying in an ICU unit for emergency care. Thus, this project’s main objective is to redesign and improve the current respirator designs and bring quality working conditions for all health care workers.
Tracheostomy Humidification
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 5
This device is responsible for humidifying the airways of tracheostomy patients in intensive or long-time acute care facilities. It serves as proof of a more efficient, quiet, and portable replacement to the current device used in hospitals. Rather than using compressed oxygen for water atomization and transport, this device utilizes a micro aperture piezoelectric crystal for water atomization and a small pump coupled with a customized Venturi device for water transport.
Manufacture and Characterization of a Rolling Diaphragm Actuator for MRI Procedures
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 1
MRI machines are underutilized for conducing procedures like biopsies due to their lack of access points and compatible materials. Robots, such as that of the Yip Lab, are being developed to enable doctors further range of motion within the MRI chamber, but there are several complicating factors to be considered. This project seeks to dive deeper and evaluate the feasibility of the rolling diaphragm actuation mechanism of the Yip Lab robot.
Fenestrated Escharotomy Instrument
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 11
The material properties of human skin when exposed to flames or high temperatures change and lose their necessary elasticity. An area of interest is the chest and torso skin, where burnt skin can cause tightness in the chest and impede normal breathing. We seek to develop an incision device to produce a mesh pattern on the surface of the skin to allow for expansion and relieve pressure from the tightening of the skin.
Continuous Scan Sound Array
2021-2022 - Spring
Team: 6
This project focuses on designing and manufacturing a continuous scan sound array, as a technological advancement to traditional stationary sound arrays. ATA engineers can use beamforming to create a mesh of “virtual” mics, significantly increasing the resolution of results while decreasing the overall cost and acoustic reflections of the array.
