On Thursday, November 21st, OPIM Innovate hosted a rotational virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) workshop for UConn’s Management and Engineering for Manufacturing program (MEM). Here, students from Professor Mousumi Roy’s MEM3221 class were tasked with brainstorming ways in which either VR or AR can be integrated into the manufacturing process. 

In order for OPIM Innovate to accommodate all participating MEM students, the same workshop was given three different times throughout mid-November. Stations were set up around the Innovate Lab to accommodate several people at once, featuring devices such as the Google Cardboard headset and the Oculus Go. The most popular of all virtual reality devices was the HTC Vive. This wired headset allowed students to participate in Valve’s The Lab, an immersive experience with various minigames showcasing the potential of VR. 

After participating in all stations, students became more comfortable with VR and AR technology. This led to the insurgence of ideas for MEM applications and an enthusiasm for innovation. Daniel Castillo (MEM ‘19), for example, informed me that VR would be a great way to start training incoming manufacturing personnel. “It can teach us how to program and utilize on-site machinery,” he said. “Since we don’t all have access to these machines in schools, VR is a great alternative.” 

Two other students, Nick Porebski (MEM ‘20) and Ben Zekowski (MEM ‘20), informed me of their ideas for VR applications in computer-aided design (CAD). “Students could view and interact with a draft of their design in real-time,” Nick said. “And, since you don’t have to print the material,” Ben added, “it could save on time and cut costs.” 

We thank the MEM department for their interest in the OPIM Innovate initiative and to all the students who participated in this event! For any innovation inquiries, please feel free to consult the Lab, again! 

On Friday, April 26th, OPIM Innovate hosted its 3D Printing Workshop. There, lab specialist Eli Udler walked students through the 3D printing process with Tinkercad, an open-source computer-aided design platform. After a brief walkthrough on how to use the online tool, students were then given free rein to pursue and build any of the step-by-step projects provided by the Tinkercad support team. For those students who were beginners or still intimidated by the software, Udler recommended the pennywhistle tutorial. As students worked independently, Udler remained attentive and answered any and all questions as they were asked.

After the workshop, many students left with a better understanding of 3D printing and computer-aided design. However, what made students feel the most fulfilled were the unlimited possibilities of 3D design and the Tinkercad platform. “With all of the tools and shapes we could use, I found it really enjoyable to just see what I could make,” said Neel Chakravarti (Environmental Engineering ’22). This was also the case for animal science major Rafael Samaniego (’20). “It was fun to turn each building block into something more complex,” he said.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the 3D Printing Workshop! Innovate would also like to thank Eli Udler for his participation as a workshop instructor in our workshop series!

 

On Wednesday, April 28th, Levo International, in collaboration with OPIM Innovate, showcased one of its many hydroponic installations to preschoolers at the UConn Child Development Laboratory. Born from an Eagle Scout project completed by founder Christian Heiden, (Applied Economics major) Levo International creates hydroponic greenhouses and sells them in the United States to support the organization’s growth in Haiti. There, Levo hopes to assist the Haitian economy by creating manufacturing jobs for the natives and popularizing a more reliable mode of small-plant farming–hydroponics–where soil is not needed.

During the hydroponics showcase, Heiden explained hydroponics to the preschoolers, students-teachers, and Laboratory staff at the event. While the content had to be simplified for the younger members of the audience, the concepts were still well received with much enthusiasm from the children. In addition, as a gift to the Child Development Laboratory, Heiden donated the very greenhouse he showcased with hopes that the program would use it to grow vegetables and fruits for the children. The system can grow fruits like tomatoes, raspberries, and strawberries, perfect for snack time!

So, how does it work? Well, the hydroponic greenhouse is fueled by a nutrient reservoir filled mostly with nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. From there, the water is pumped up to the top of the greenhouse, where it then flows through all the pipes to the seated plants. After the water reaches each plant, it returns to the reservoir and is recycled on a solar-powered timer. All a user has to do is check the roots of the plants to prevent the system from clogging and replace the fertilizer every two-to-three weeks. “That was our goal: eliminate most of the hassle,” said Heiden in his explanation of the system. “Especially in the United States, people are always on a time crunch.”

Want to support Levo International? Please click here to be redirected to their shop where they sell their greenhouses, nutrient starter packs, and wearable merchandise.

 

 

 

On Friday, April 19th, OPIM Innovate invited Jason Otrin, entrepreneur and founder of On Course Drones, to host its Drones in Action Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to teach students about the multipurpose benefits of drone technology and the Remote Pilot Certification process. In addition to this, Otrin spoke about why he decided to start his On Course Drones initiative and the entrepreneurial challenges he faced to get there. Overall, the workshop was an insightful look into how a recreational pastime and personal interest can become a successful commercial endeavor.

After enlisting in the Connecticut Army National Guard in 1990 and serving in aviation maintenance, Otrin enrolled in the UConn Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. In 1995, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and was commissioned as an intelligence officer in the US Army. He was always very interested in aviation and, based on his service with helicopters in the National Guard and exposure to military aviation, earned his private pilot license while serving on active duty. After departing from the army in 2000, he worked for 17 years in information technology (IT) services until he realized, from helping his wife with her own start-up ventures, that he wanted to open his own business. That was when he found UConn’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, which helped him apply his acquired entrepreneurial acumen to his first business plan.

“My intention was to start an IT training company,” said Otrin while reminiscing about his business prototyping days. “But, deep down, it wasn’t really what I wanted. One of my mentors helped me realize that. After working on a 45-page business plan for 4 months, she said to me, ‘You know what, I can tell that this isn’t what lights you up.'” She asked Otrin to think about his childhood interests, his hobbies, what he reads, and his pastimes to steer him in the right direction in terms of creating a business he would enjoy running. It didn’t take long for him to pinpoint that he wanted to do something with aviation. “I went to airshows, read aviation magazines, was obsessed with flying–so I came back a week later and told her that I needed to do something aviation related.” Based on how quickly he wrote his second business plan, he realized that following his passions would lead to his success.

Fast forward to today and Otrin now runs a drone training firm that helps clients prepare for the FAA 107 exam, a certification that allows you to fly a remote aircraft (a.k.a a drone) for commercial purposes below 400 feet, along with other requirements. In addition, he takes on private projects related to drones, such as birds-eye-view real estate displays showcasing neighborhood environments, and will be teaching a course at UConn in the fall, OPIM 4895-001, which will give UConn students the opportunity to prepare for the FAA 107 exam for credit. “As part of the course, I want to help students develop an idea of where they want to go with drones. This will be their project,” he explained, “applying drones to their career fields.”

Outside of recreational use, drones have many practical applications that can be beneficial to various industries. They allow human beings to get to places they may not otherwise be able to go, see things from an overhead perspective, and make informed decisions. For instance:

• Insurance companies use drones before and after natural disasters to assess damage compensation and inform customers about the status of their homes.
• Search and rescue teams use drones to assist injured persons by pinpointing their location and through the transportation of resources.
• Military officers use drones to gain intel on the enemy and assist commanders to assess and decide on next steps.

Alongside these real-world examples, drone technology is becoming far more advanced, meaning that drones are becoming more automated, obstacle-aware and flight time is improving. DJI Mavic 2 Pro can be flown and monitored by its remote, or transmitter, up to 4.9 miles away and stay in the air for 31 minutes. Note that these specifications are under ideal conditions and FAA regulations require drones to stay within visual line of sight of the operator unless they possess a waiver. DJI also manufactures headsets that give drone users a first-person perspective of what the drone is capturing. These headsets typically monitor head movements to adjust camera direction using the drone’s gimbal, a stand that levels the drone’s built-in camera as it flies.

After the workshop, students left with a better understanding of drones and how they can utilize drone technology in their own pursuits. “I’ve had this idea for a while now to use drones as a way to help commuters find available parking spaces,” said computer science major Andi Duro (’21) when asked about his experience at the workshop. “This workshop gave me a better understanding of the regulations and rules of commercial air flight to help me better solidify that idea.” Natalie Chmielewska (’21), a computer science and engineering double major, also gained useful insight to help her with the UConn SPARK program. “Jason put in a lot of effort to show us every aspect of drone flying and how it can be used for our own pursuits and for those younger than us,” she said. UConn SPARK gives middle school and high school students access to week-long workshops centered around engineering and STEM to encourage their involvement in those areas.

OPIM Innovate would like to thank Jason Otrin for his service, both in the military and for the OPIM Department. We look forward to seeing what you do in the fall! A huge thank you to everyone who attended, as well!

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, April 6th from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, UConn hosted its first official Maker Fair at Werth Residence Towers. There, all “makers”–artists, innovators, inventors, businesses, and more–were able to showcase their work while interacting with onlookers. In addition to the little expo, the second annual Modified Pinewood Derby also took place. There, competitors put their pinewood cars to the test by having them race against each other, each miniature vehicle engineered to perform and carrying its own unique design.

Due to the Maker Fair and the Modified Pinewood Derby partnering together for a single event, the Maker Fair had a huge turnout. Both those primarily interested in the makers and Derby fans were able to walk from maker station to maker station while Derby contestants waited to race their cars. Even a few contestants themselves came up to appreciate the various creations presented by the makers before the big race. Stations varied from a NASA project to a tailor’s clothing collection. There was variety abound.

Alongside the various makers, OPIM Innovate also attended the Maker Fair with its own table. There, Innovate lab specialist Robert McClardy demonstrated the capabilities of various technologies such as virtual reality headsets, biosensors, augmented reality equipment, and drones. “Overall, it was a neat event,” McClardy said.

We thank everyone who attended the Maker Fair and stopped by our booth!

 

On Friday, March 8th, OPIM Innovate hosted Splunk Day in collaboration with Splunk, Inc., the industry leader in operations analytics software. Held in the Student Union, the six-hour event introduced students and faculty to the Splunk software, Splunk’s organizational culture, and ways to get involved with the company and their various applications. The event was kicked-off by Ryan O’Connor, Senior Advisory Engineer at Splunk and adjunct professor of the Operations and Information Management Department at the UConn School of Business. To give attendees an understanding of what Splunk can do, O’Connor introduced the software and its capabilities as both a data-visualization tool and a data-monitoring platform.

After O’Connor’s brief introduction of Splunk, Glen Wong, Senior Engineering Manager at Splunk, took to the podium to give attendees an inside look at the endeavors of the Splunk Mobile Team. The Mobile Team’s mission is to make Splunk accessible, not just on laptops and desktops, but also on phones, tablets, televisions, smart watches, and so on. With applications like Splunk Mobile, Splunk users can pull up useful dashboards and receive notifications and alerts when pertinent changes are made to their unique Splunk environment. Splunk TV, another application developed by the Mobile Team for Apple TV, specifically, allows users to pull up multiple saved dashboards and search through data using voice recognition.

During the Splunk Mobile presentation, Devin Bhushan, Senior iOS Engineer for augmented reality (AR), showed audience members a live Splunk AR demo. Augmented reality is an emerging technology that superimposes digital modules, animations, images, and videos onto the real world through a mobile device. For Splunk AR, various augmented reality modules can be placed onto the physical environment through the use of a near field communication (NFC) tag. The NFC tag holds the information of a specific Splunk dashboard, and gives Splunk AR users the ability to see how that data is changing in real time. For example, if Splunk is capturing how hot a certain device is, Splunk AR can place a digital temperature gauge on that device. This versatile technology can also be used in manufacturing to track the movement of inventory.

On the topic of Splunk’s organizational culture, the next presentation centered around Women in Technology. Khadija Yamin, a Splunk Sales Engineer, started this part of the event with a few important statistics. For one, there are currently only about 26% of women in technology-related fields, with female minorities being even less represented. In addition, 56% of women in technical fields leave their jobs at the mid-level, which is a very costly point in time for an organization to lose an employee. What Splunk does to avoid this is to promote an inclusive culture, which is encouraged by mandatory unconscious bias training. They also regularly utilize textio, described by Yamin as “a spell check for gender bias,” for written communication. Though, to Yamin, inclusivity has to be present in the lives of women and other minorities pursuing roles in the technological field even before they reach Splunk to be the most effective. When I asked Yamin what both men and women can do at the college level to support women who want to pursue technological roles, she stated: “Stay involved with your female colleagues and classmates, don’t make derogatory jokes, and be respectful of the pursuits of both sexes. You can’t look at a person and expect them to not understand something because they are female or male. You have to look beyond that–we are equally capable human beings.”

For Brian Gilmore, Splunk’s Chief Technology Advocate and speaker for the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) portion of Splunk Day, a pattern he consistently faced in his early professional career was that useful data was not being explored by systems specialists. During his time at the Georgia Aquarium as an aquarist and life support manager, for example, he found that the automation control systems that kept “the animals healthy and the water clear” were not being utilized for business insight. As a result, he built connectivity to those systems, which controlled all tank valves, filters, sensors, and activators, by creating a way to feed that data into Excel. When he began to work with Splunk, he sought to use the Splunk platform as a more efficient medium between the machine and the man, which is basically what Internet of Things is all about.

Internet of Things, in an industrial context, is connecting any data-generating device to the internet for efficiency and insight. Splunk assists many companies in this area of emerging technology by giving them the data necessary to optimize their business models, minimize costs and generate optimal revenues. For example, Dubai Airlines partnered with Splunk to optimize their customer service model and keep track of utility usage. Due to this implementation and the data collected from customer checkpoints, Dubai Airlines can now get a customer from the front door to their gate in five minutes. They can also restock toiletries, such as hand soap, paper towels, and toilet paper, in a timely manner due to IoT sensors on toilets and sinks.

According to Rao Durvasula, Senior Instructor at Splunk and the presenter of the Machine Learning portion of Splunk Day, “You’re not a data scientist if you can’t articulate the problem in English.” So, when it comes to Splunk Analytics and its Machine Learning Toolkit, exploration is the best method for implementation. The moment you install Splunk, you can utilize the Machine Learning Toolkit as a free add-on to explore predictive analytics such as linear regression and logistic regression. These algorithms help you create future insights from present and past data and can assist you in making business decisions. In addition, the Toolkit gives you an opportunity to start understanding predictive models and machine learning for future communication.

As we have seen, Splunk can be used in a variety of ways, from gathering IoT information to making machine learning predictions. However, its capabilities do not stop there–it can also be used as a security client. During the Security portion of Splunk Day, Khadija Yamin returned to explain Splunk Enterprise Security, which helps organizations identify security concerns. For users who have the regular version of Splunk, Splunk Enterprise, they can install Splunk Security Essentials, a free add-on that helps detect security anomalies. As it takes, on average, 146 days for organizations to find out if they were hacked, having a security client is very necessary. And, Splunk Enterprise Security has been the top in Security Information and Event Management for 6 years, meaning that they are the optimal choice.

At the end of the informative portion of Splunk Day, the final presenter, University Recruiting Manager Katia Ratkovitch, described the “Perfect Splunker.” They are a person who is a team player, who enjoys building (or innovating), who is inclusive, who values personal growth, and who takes action when other people don’t. The Splunk environment thrives off of these individuals, and thus holds the values of being innovative, passionate, disruptive (ahead of the competition), open, and fun. If you are interested in this type of environment, consider Splunk’s 10-12 week internship program! Every intern has a mentor, works on a real-world project with a real-world team, and participates in fun events like a one-week hackathon. While most internship positions have been filled for the summer of 2019, please feel free to browse their internships and full-time positions for future opportunities.

Following of Splunk Day, students began to network with the various Splunk employees that presented during the event. One of these students was Joanne Cheong (MIS ’19), a Lab Specialist at OPIM Innovate who enthusiastically agreed to tell me about her experience. “Splunk day provided me with great insight on what the company does. I already knew about Splunk from the tech kits I write for the Innovate Lab, but I learned a lot more about how Splunk can be used in areas like operational intelligence and cybersecurity. And, given that I’m a [Management Information Systems] major, it’s great to have a platform where you can experiment with data for different purposes.”

Splunk, as an organization, tries its best to promote social change and stimulate personal growth. It is no wonder their motto for employees is, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying”–growth is something they strive for, not just for themselves but for the communities around them. Through Splunk4Good, Splunk sponsors various educational institutions, including UConn, to give students the ability to build valuable skillsets while learning to use the Splunk Analytics platform. That way, they can use Splunk, and their understanding of data analytics, to positively influence the progress and growth of various organizations striving to make an impact.

If you would like to learn more about Splunk, I encourage you to take Splunk Fundamentals I and II. They are free Splunk courses for UConn students, and give you a first step towards an amazing skillset.

 

On Friday, March 1st, OPIM Innovate hosted its Wearable Tech in Action workshop from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM in the Gladstein Lab. There, students were able to use hardware such as FLORA microcontrollers, UV light sensors, and force sensors to design their own wearable technologies with pre-coded software templates created using Arduino, an open-source electronic prototyping software. There were multiple projects students could choose from based on the parts they selected from the toolkit supplied by the event instructor. Encouraged to work on their own, students downloaded the Arduino software, began building their wearable technologies, and experimented with changing light colors and cycle times by altering the code provided to them on the workshop’s GitHub page.

Since this was the first time I had ever created a wearable piece of technology, I decided to build an accessory that utilized a FLORA microcontroller and a neopixel light. Thanks to the diagrams available to us when using the GitHub tutorials, it was not that difficult to put together. In all, it took one micro USB cord connected to my laptop to power the FLORA microcontroller and upload the Arduino code. From there, I had to use three alligator clips and three on-board pads, or points of contact between devices, on both the FLORA microcontroller and the neopixel light to individuate the electric pulses that would make the device work properly given the current code. Once everything was connected, the neopixel light began to cycle through different colors. At first, the device ran on a red, green, and blue cycle. Then I changed the colors to aqua blue, purple, and pastel pink.

As I continued to experiment with my wearable accessory, I found that you could do various things with the code. For one, you could decrease the brightness of the lights, or even add an extra color to the current hue loop. Looking around me, I also saw my peers use Arduino to create color waves utilizing the neopixel strip, which carries 60 individual neopixels inside of it. Light traveled up and down the strip in a single color, something that could have become a rainbow arrangement with a little extra time.

If you or someone you know is interested in wearable technology, consider visiting OPIM Innovate! We have wearable technology kits available for you to use at your own pace, and you do not have to be an expert to get started!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Wearable Tech workshop. We hope to see you again, soon!