Research Interns Present Summer Projects

Seven Georgia Tech students selected for the 2024 summer research internship program sponsored by the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) presented their projects on August 2. The summer program is an opportunity for students looking to gain real-world experience related to research and community engagement. Summer interns received up to $7,000 for full-time research-related work.

The students’ 2024 summer research projects included:

• Grace Littler, a junior majoring in architecture, worked with Jennifer DuBose, executive director of the SimTigrate Design Lab. She helped gathered data for a NIH proposal from New Horizons, a group in Atlanta, studying sleep and environment issues. She also participated in research activities related to neurorehabilitation centers.
   
• Seongjin Kim, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, worked with Celeste Mason, research scientist at IPaT, and Thad Starner, professor in the School of Interactive Computing, on a passive haptic learning and rehabilitation project related to piano playing. 
  
  According to Kim, “playing musical instruments is beneficial for people's mental health and cognitive abilities, but it is also a time-consuming process. The Passive Haptic Learning (PHL) project aims to help people learn piano faster through wearable gloves that use actuator-caused haptic vibrations to stimulate the cutaneous sensory mechanoreceptors in the user's hands. This makes technical practice sessions more efficient as PHL gloves build up procedural memory, and it is a more efficient use of time as the learning process becomes passive, meaning that users may perform other tasks while wearing the gloves.”
  
  Over the summer, the PHL gloves transitioned from using wired connections to flexible PCBs to enhance the glove's electromechanical integrity, and the flexible PCB design and assembly procedure has been simplified. Moreover, an ergonomic form factor was developed to complement the new circuitry.
   
• Shreya Sasmal, a junior majoring in computational media, worked with Kala Jordan, research scientist in IPaT, and Maribeth Coleman, director of research for IPaT. Her project’s goal was to digitize instruction manuals focused on mechanical repair and maintenance to create a more efficient repair process and speed up knowledge transfer between workers.
   
• Nathan Lin, a senior majoring in computational media, worked with IPaT scientists Peter Presti, senior research scientist, and Brian Jones, senior research engineer, on the Aware Home smart bathroom project. Lin programmed and built a full-stack application that can report data of deployable smart toilet seats for occupational therapists to review data.
   
• Sameer Arora, a sophomore majoring in computer science, worked with Peter Presti, senior research scientist, and associate professor, Rosa Arriaga in the School of Interactive Computing, on a prolonged exposure therapy iOS mobile app. He programmed and built the Prolonged Exposure Collective Sensing System for PTSD on iOS which was already available on Android devices. This programming project was funded by the National Science Foundation.
   
• Siddharth Jain, a undergraduate student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, who worked with Matt Sanders, director of research computing and data at Georgia Tech. Jain architected “Control Point,” a smart interface between legacy operating system built devices and smart environments. Control Point is a component for secure data transfer between legacy devices and modern systems, acting as a bridge that ensures efficient data flow and compliance with industry standards.
   

• Matthew Perry, a junior majoring in computer engineering, worked with Brian Jones, senior research engineer, at the Aware Home. Perry previously worked for the Aware Home for five semesters as a student assistant. His summer research internship accomplishments were numerous

  He developed the third hardware revision of the Gait Speed Clinic Device from TechSage D3.3. The overall goal of this new printed circuit board was to reduce production time, reduce required experience, and reduce the cost of the system to allow for more clinics to access the device. 

  He also revised and setup the Aware Home's network infrastructure to allow the two main floors of the home to be isolated yet managed as one. This was implemented by using new network hardware that allowed for VLANs and more detailed firewall rules. All devices on the old network, as well as new devices, were moved to this new network. Smart home devices on this network are controlled and collect data through “Home Assistant” granting future researchers in the home greater access to device history.

  Additionally, he developed the Smart Bathroom's (TechSage D1.1) grab bar system to allow automated and manual movement via actuators. He implemented a button box for physical therapists to move the grab bars to the desired position. In the future, these positions can be saved for a voice command system to utilize.