March 23, 2022
As part of our FYDP/Capstone 2022 spotlights, we’re excited to introduce team 20 from Nanotechnology Engineering: Adam Powell, Brendan Barber, Logan Ingalls, and Vyshna Krishnakumar and their project “Design of an Improved Strain Sensor for a Virtual Reality Glove”!
Can you explain your project in one sentence?
We are designing a glove with a built-in sensor to detect finger movement. Joint movement modelling helps VR technology track the human body and has applications in fields like gaming, training simulations, and physiotherapy.
What has been the best part of your project so far?
The best part of our project so far was bringing together all of our backgrounds and individual components of the project to develop technology in an emerging field. Our team has backgrounds in wet chemistry, materials science, and hardware development. The multidisciplinary nature of our team helped us put together the nanomaterial wet chemistry manufacturing process, optimize the material and electronic properties of the sensor, and develop the accompanying hardware and software. Working together to assemble everything was a very rewarding experience.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your project?
The biggest challenge we have faced was optimizing lab procedures to make the sensor, which took months of iterations and was slowed by campus being partially shut down due to the pandemic.
What’s next for your team members once you’re finished?
After graduation we will be working full time. Brendan has secured a position in construction QC (soil sampling). The rest of us are looking into and applying for jobs in various fields, such as camera systems design and drug delivery of genetic medicine.