The Center for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies (CDAIT), and co-sponsors School of Public Policy and GT VentureLab, are pleased to announce winners of the 3rd annual Student IoT Innovation Capacity Building Challenge. The Challenge is a CDAIT initiative to advance the development of innovation, applications, policy, and activities, broadly, in the area of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and applications, computing at the edge, and cloud technologies. CDAIT seeks to stimulate projects involving rapid response innovative/exploratory research, hardware/software projects, policy and applications, and efforts to advance ideas into prototyping and early commercialization phases.
This year we were interested in projects that focused on: 1) IoT and Connectivity - 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, LPWAN, etc., 2) healthcare/biomedical, wellness and community engagement uses, and 3)industrial and manufacturing processes (e.g. IIoT). We especially sought proposals from the social sciences, humanities, and multidisciplinary teams and proposals that address themes of broader social impacts, inclusion, and policy effects of IoT. The winning projects are presented below.
Project Teams
1st Place: Policy/Civic Engagement
Physioconnect: Cloud-interfaced Wearable Device Ecosystem for Cardiovascular Characterization and Remote, Long-term Postpartum Monitoring
Members
Nathan Zavanelli, Jared Matthews
Summary
In the United States, the sole postpartum visit that is currently part of standard postpartum treatment occurs between 4 and 6 weeks after the birth of the child, which is too late to diagnose cardiomyopathy, heart failure, or hypertensive crisis. To begin to address the underlying inequalities in access to healthcare infrastructure producing this disparity, we apply a comprehensive multifaceted framework to a platform for real-time delivery of key maternal cardiovascular metrics to patients and their clinicains using modern cloud and mobile application technology in conjunction with skin-like wearable devices with clinic-grade sensing ability. With the intersection of cardiovascular and socioeconomic factors at the center of postpartum risk assessment, an accessible, accurate, and continuous monitoring system would be a central component of a broader proactive approach for mitigating the rising postpartum death in the United States.
Project Website
https://sites.gatech.edu/physioconnect/
1st Place: IoT Innovation
Soft Upper-Extremity Robotics with Stretchable Artificial Skin Electronics for Deep Learning-Enabled Human Strength Augmentation
Members
Kangkyu Kwon, Yoon Jae Lee, Ira Soltis
Summary
The team developed a soft upper-extremity exoskeleton created for the purpose of human strength augmentation that was built upon a new class of technologies, including stretchable artifical skin electronics, soft actuators, and deep learning algorithms. To create the soft sensors and electronics needed in a rapid and reliable manner, the team implemented nanomaterial printing methods, These sensors and actuators were then integrated with a soft robotic garment, and deep-learning algorithms offer automatic, real-time identification and classification of the user's movement for facilitating and amplifying the intended motion.
Project Website
https://www.bio-translational-exoskeleton.com/
1st Place: Verizon Connectivity Prize
Water-level Accessible Via Economical Satellites (WAVES)
Members
Eric Greenlee, Christopher Kraemer, William Dyches, Alexander Elliott
Summary
The Georgia Tech Smart Sea Level Sensors (SSLS) project previously developed and deployed internet-connected water level sensors that require collocation with existing internet infrastructure, limiting possible deployment locations. Low-cost satellite constellations such as Swarm present a viable connectivity alternative, allowing sensorts to upload data from anywhere. For this project, the WAVES team redesigned the Smart Sea Level Sensor's water level sensor to integrate with a Swarm M138 satellite gateway, allowing the system to upload water level data and system metadata multiple times a day from anywhere in the world.
Project Website
https://www.sealevelsensors.org/
Honorable Mentions
Development of an Immersive System for Effective Training in Industrial Laser Scanning
Members
Steven Kangisser, Abishek Shankar
Summary
ScannerVR is a simulation tool enabling instructors and trainees to understand the complexities of the laser scanning process. Trainees and instructors can leverage the power of VR to enable the instruction of complex tasks. The trainee puts on the headset and is then greeted by instructions on how to use ScannerVR. Movement controls and Interaction controls are explained along with the objectives of the experience. The trainee is then dropped into the virtual insustrial environment, where they can immerse themselves in the scanning experience. The instructor can monitor the interactions while the trainee uses the headset to accomplish tasks.
Website
https://abhishekshankar.gitbook.io/scannervr/
Thermal Display for Augmenting Emotional Experience
Members
Sosuke Ichihashi, Luke X Wang, Chang Ye
Summary
Conventional IoT devices rely on visual displays to deliver information. Yet, multimodal outputs beyond the visual offer under-explored possibilities for information displays. For example, physical warmth has been shown to increase social warmth and offers a deep sense of comfort and coziness. The team has designed and implemented a thermal display, and developed and exhibited Thermal Music as an example of using it to express feeling through heat. Plans are to miniaturize the thermal display and extend the feeling communication beyond music (e.g., presenting nuanced information from IoT devices, sharing the state of people and the environment, and encouraging a specific action by influencing feelings).
