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- Educating global engineers with EPS@ISEP: The 'pet tracker' project experiencePublication . Borzecka, Aleksandra; Fagerstrom, Anton; Costa, Artur; Gasull, Marti Domenech; Malheiro, Benedita; Castro Ribeiro, Maria Cristina De; Silva, Manuel; Caetano, Nídia; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe European Project Semester (EPS) is a one-semester capstone project/internship programme offered to engineering, product design and business undergraduates by 18 European engineering schools. EPS aims to prepare future engineers to think and act globally, by adopting project-based learning and teamwork methodologies, fostering the development of complementary skills and addressing sustainability and multiculturalism. Since 2011, the EPS@ISEP programme offers a set of multidisciplinary projects to multicultural teams of students, so that each team element can bring to the project its previous knowledge and background experience. In the spring of 2013, a team choose to develop a pet tracker to provide pet owners with information regarding the whereabouts of their pets and, above all, to reduce the number of pets lost. After analysing related products, the team decided to add extra features for product differentiation. Combining a triple-axis accelerometer, a low cost GPS receiver and the GSM/GPRS communication technology, the team designed a system providing pet location, tracking, map display and activity monitoring services. This paper describes the development process of the Pet Tracker system, comprising a wearable device for pets and a website for pet owners.
- Balcony Greenhouse – An EPS@ISEP 2017 ProjectPublication . Calderon, Alisson; Mota, António; Hopchet, Christophe; Grabulosa, Cristina; Roeper, Mathias; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThis paper presents the development process of a sustainable solution to grow aromatic plants in small houses. The solution is called The GreenHouse and is meant for people who live in small houses or city apartments and want fresh home grown aromatic plants, but have neither the time nor the space to grow them. The solution is intended to be sustainable and appropriate for people concerned with eating healthy, fresh food. The project was developed by a team of five students enrolled in the European Project Semester (EPS) at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) during the spring of 2017. EPS@ISEP is a project-based learning framework which aims to foster personal, teamwork and multidisciplinary problem-solving skills in engineering, business and product design students. Research and discussions within the team were done to develop the product. The existing solutions for growing fresh food in industrial and domestic applications as well as marketing, sustainability and ethical topics were researched and discussed. This way it was possible to define the requirements of The GreenHouse. The GreenHouse is semi-automatic and requires little interaction from the customer. It has two covers, a winter cover and a summer cover, to be changed depending on the season and weather. Solar energy and rainwater are used to enable the growth of aromatic plants, making this a sustainable system. The support is adaptable and made to fit different support sizes so it can be hanged on balconies or windows.
- Biomechanical study of the Spider Crab as inspiration for the development of a biomimetic robotPublication . Rynkevic, Rita; Silva, Manuel F.; Marques, M. ArcelinaA problem faced by oil companies is the maintenance of the location register of pipelines that cross the surf zone, the regular survey of their location, and also their inspection. A survey of the state of art did not allow identifying operating systems capable of executing such tasks. Commercial technologies available on the market also do not address this problem and/or do not satisfy the presented requirements. A possible solution is to use robotic systems which have the ability to walk on the shore and in the surf zone, subject to existing currents and ripples, and being able to withstand these ambient conditions. In this sense, the authors propose the development of a spider crab biologically inspired robot to achieve those tasks. Based on these ideas, this work presents a biomechanical study of the spider crab, its modeling and simulation using the SimMechanics toolbox of Matlab/Simulink, which is the first phase of this more vast project. Results show a robot model that is moving in an “animal like” manner, the locomotion, the algorithm presented in this paper allows the crab to walk sideways, in the desired direction.
- Design of sustainable domes in the context of EPS@ISEPPublication . Balbaert, Joppe; Pérez Daza, Jairo; Barb, Bogdan Marius; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, Pedro; Park, Jaehyun; Marimon, Ramon; Serfozo, Akos; Cazelles, Marine; Domenic, Stancel Constantin; Speckstadt, Arne; Skonieczna, Klaudia; Rajnai, GergelyThe European Project Semester (EPS) is a one-semester capstone project/internship program offered to engineering, product design and business undergraduates by 18 European engineering schools. EPS aims to prepare future engineers to think and act globally, by adopting project-based learning and teamwork methodologies, fostering the development of complementary skills and addressing sustainability and multiculturalism. In 2016, two EPS@ISEP teams embraced the challenge of building a robust, inexpensive, modular, comfortable and safe wooden / metallic dome using simple techniques and sustainable materials. This challenge is demanding - requires a multidisciplinary and user-centred design - as well as rewarding - contributes to satisfy the right to adequate, safe and affordable housing as stated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The goal is to solve the problem in a modular and sustainable way, i.e., by using repetitive linear elements made of locally available materials. This approach aims to dramatically decrease the cost of production and shipping, simplify the construction process and address the needs of the dome users. Although geodesic cross-linked structures have been studied for some time, their design requires the involvement of all stakeholders as well as a team which understands and integrates the contributions from areas such as electronics, mechanics, civil, environmental or materials engineering. The project-based learning approach fosters, on the one hand, autonomy, responsibility and the ability to make sound technical-scientific choices and, on the other hand, develops teamwork, sustainable development and personal and cross-cultural communication skills, while promoting the emergence of innovative, creative and sometimes audacious solutions, typical of the youth.
- Aquaponics System - An EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring ProjectPublication . Llauradó, Ana Mesas; Docherty, Arlene; Méry, Gwénaël; Sokolowska, Natalia; Keane, Sean; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe goal of this project, one of the proposals of the EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring, was to develop an Aquaponics System. Over recent years Aquaponics systems have received increased attention due to its possibilities in helping reduce strain on resources within 1st and 3rd world countries. Aquaponics is the combination of Hydroponics and Aquaculture and mimics a natural environment in order to successfully apply and enhance the understanding of natural cycles within an indoor process. By using this knowledge of natural cycles it was possible to create a system with the capabilities similar to that of a natural environment with the benefits of electronic adaptions to enhance the overall efficiency of the system. The multinational team involved in its development was composed of five students, from five countries and fields of study. This paper covers their solution, involving overall design, the technology involved and the benefits it could bring to the current market. The team was able to achieve the final rendered Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings, successfully performed all the electronic testing, and designed a solution under budget. Furthermore, the solution presented was deeply studied from the sustainability viewpoint and the team also developed a product specific marketing plan. Finally, the students involved in this project obtained new knowledge and skills.
- Design and Implementation of a Biologically Inspired Flying Robot - An EPS@ISEP 2014 Spring ProjectPublication . Caramin, Bénédicte Anki; Dunn, Iain; Ney, Rauno; Klawikowski, Yvonne; Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Silva, Manuel; Caetano, Nídia Sá; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe goal of this EPS@ISEP project proposed in the Spring of 2014 was to develop a flapping wing flying robot. The project was embraced by a multinational team composed of four students from different countries and fields of study. The team designed and implemented a robot inspired by a biplane design, constructed from lightweight materials and battery powered. The prototype, called MyBird, was built with a 250 € budget, reuse existing materials as well as low cost solutions. Although the team's initial idea was to build a light radio controlled robot, time limitations along with setbacks involving the required electrical components led to a light but not radio controlled prototype. The team, from the experience gathered, made a number of future improvement suggestions, namely, the addition of radio control and a camera and the adoption of articulated monoplane design instead of the current biplane design for the wings.
- Outdoor Intelligent ShaderPublication . Mahon, Christopher; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, Pedro; Baptista, Manuel; Majewska, Marta; Tscholl, Melanie; Bergervoet, Sven; Malheiro, Benedita; Silva, Manuel F.; Ribeiro, Cristina; Justo, JorgeThis paper presents an overview of the development of SetSun, an outdoor intelligent shader, by a team of five Erasmus students within the framework of the European Project Semester at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, in the spring of 2018. The major goal of this project-based learning experience was to design a new type of parasol, granting a novel wellness and luxury experience, by combining the functionalities of smart electronics with that of a traditional parasol, while providing the participants with a meaningful learning experience for their future professional life. The Team conducted multiple studies, including scientific, technical, sustainability, marketing, ethics and deontological analyses, and discussions to derive the requirements, design the structure, specify the list of materials and components and develop a functional system. Following these studies, the Team assembled, debugged and tested the SetSun prototype successfully.
- Waste to FungiPublication . Winter, Alexander; Justo, Jorge; Silva, Manuel F.; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, Pedro; Pedro, Erendiro; Ślasko, Julia; Battaglini, Julien; Faelker, Mäike; Kivipelto, Ronald; Duarte, Abel J.; Malheiro, Benedita; Castro Ribeiro, Maria Cristina DeThis paper describes the journey of a multinational and multidisciplinary team enrolled in the European Project Semester (EPS) at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) during the spring semester of 2019. The team embraced the idea of repurposing coffee leftovers to cultivate oyster mushrooms and benefited from the background diversity of the team members as well as from newly acquired marketing, sustainability and design ethics skills to consolidate and strengthen the overall feasibility of the project. The project was set to design, develop and test grey oyster mushroom growth kits with an automated monitoring system, using coffee grounds as growing substrate and complying with the applicable regulations and pre-defined requirements. The ulterior aims of the project were to reconnect people with the food they eat and to disseminate sustainable food production processes, which are not only healthy but environmentally friendly. To achieve these goals, the team developed a circular economy business model where grey oyster mushroom growth kits reuse coffee grounds as growing beds and food buckets as containers. The designed growth kits include a controlled fruiting chamber with an integrated monitoring system. This allows easy domestic cultivation, monitoring through a smart phone. Moreover, the proposed solution contemplates information sharing on the mushroom cultivation process, monitoring system and recipes as well as the maintenance of a dedicated discussion forum. Tests have been conducted to test the concept, cultivation process, monitoring system and fruiting chamber from the incubation of mycelium all the way to the harvesting. Results show the feasibility of creating a business based on the devised concept
- Learning sustainability by developing a solar dryer for microalgae retrievalPublication . Malheiro, Benedita; Ribeiro, Maria Cristina; Silva, Manuel; Caetano, Nídia Sá; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThe development of nations depends on energy consumption, which is generally based on fossil fuels. This dependency produces irreversible and dramatic effects on the environment, e.g. large greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn cause global warming and climate changes, responsible for the rise of the sea level, floods, and other extreme weather events. Transportation is one of the main uses of energy, and its excessive fossil fuel dependency is driving the search for alternative and sustainable sources of energy such as microalgae, from which biodiesel, among other useful compounds, can be obtained. The process includes harvesting and drying, two energy consuming steps, which are, therefore, expensive and unsustainable. The goal of this EPS@ISEP Spring 2013 project was to develop a solar microalgae dryer for the microalgae laboratory of ISEP. A multinational team of five students from distinct fields of study was responsible for designing and building the solar microalgae dryer prototype. The prototype includes a control system to ensure that the microalgae are not destroyed during the drying process. The solar microalgae dryer works as a distiller, extracting the excess water from the microalgae suspension. This paper details the design steps, the building technologies, the ethical and sustainable concerns and compares the prototype with existing solutions. The proposed sustainable microalgae drying process is competitive as far as energy usage is concerned. Finally, the project contributed to increase the deontological ethics, social compromise skills and sustainable development awareness of the students.
- Escargot Nursery – An EPS@ISEP 2017 ProjectPublication . Borghuis, Lauri; Calon, Benjamin; MacLean, John; Portefaix, Juliette; Quero, Ramon; Duarte, Abel José; Malheiro, Benedita; Castro Ribeiro, Maria Cristina De; Ferreira, Fernando José; Silva, Manuel; Ferreira, Paulo; Guedes, PedroThis paper presents the development of an Escargot Nursery by a multinational and multidisciplinary team of 3rd year undergraduates within the framework of EPS@ISEP – the European Project Semester (EPS) offered by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The challenge was to design, develop and test a snail farm compliant with the applicable EU directives and the given budget. The Team, motivated by the desire to solve this multidisciplinary problem, embarked on an active learning journey, involving scientific, technical, marketing, sustainable and ethical development studies, brainstorming and decision-making. Based on this project-based learning approach, the Team identified the lack of innovative domestic snail farm products and, consequently, proposed the development of “EscarGO”, a stylish solution for the domestic market. The paper details the proposed design and control system, including materials, components and technologies. This learning experience, which was focussed on the development of multicultural communication, multidisciplinary teamwork, problem-solving and decision-making competencies in students, produced as a tangible evidence the proof of concept prototype of “EscarGO”, an Escargot Nursery designed for families to easily grow snails at home.