The aPriori Enterprise Cost Management software platform improves the financial results of discrete manufacturing and product companies by enabling them to actively control Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) with real-time, predictive and precise product cost assessments. aPriori's proven and patent-protected software platform allows companies to assess, control and reduce the cost of their products in real time, at any time during design, sourcing and manufacture. To learn more about aPriori, please visit www.apriori.com. The most critical components of the aPriori enterprise cost management platform are the physical and cost models of the common manufacturing processes in use today. Currently, the aPriori platform supports processes including sheet metal fabrication, stage tooling, welded assemblies, injection molding, 3-axis machining, sand casting and die casting. The aPriori SCOPE team will help aPriori expand the number of processes supported by their software by developing cost models for a range of Surface Treatment Processes such as painting and plating. Also, the cost information for each process must be updated periodically as the manufacturing markets change over time. The team will work with aPriori to develop an application to allow both customers and the aPriori services team to create, manage and maintain critical production data for multiple manufacturing locations worldwide.

The Rockwell Automation SCOPE team is working to identify, assess and develop a viable business application for a MEMS based microfluidic sensor chip developed by the RA Advanced Technology Lab. In keeping with Rockwell Automation's business structure, the team's focus will be on solving customer problems as they relate to an industrial, rather than consumer setting. The team will begin at a broad level, gaining exposure to various industries and their processes, which will then serve as a lead to begin identifying applications. Next, in consultation with the sponsor, the most promising ideas will be chosen based on technical feasibility, potential market value and potential user value. Once the first stages leading to application identification have been completed, we will continue work on the integration of the chip into a commercially viable modular sensing head, with the possibility of developing middle electronics and firmware.

The next generation worker has grown in a world much different than the generation before. They do not know a world without the internet, they learn to solve problems and collaborate inside their gaming environments, and they multi-task with the tools of their generation. Their work habits, attitudes, and values are quite different. Many forward thinking companies are beginning to untangle the value proposition of this next generation and look at how to attract, retain, and leverage their skills to the fullest. To this end, the MITRE has sponsored our team to look at future collaboration environments, tools and workspaces to nurture these abilities and gain insight into novel ways to accomplish traditional knowledge worker tasks.

Endoscopic Band Ligation is a hemostasis technique used for esophageal varices, which are protruding vessels caused by hypertension in the portal venous system. The band ligator is an attachment to the distal end of an endoscope that deploys elastomeric bands over varices, cutting off blood flow, and eventually causing the varices to fall off. The current treatment device involves a tedious, laborious assembly by the factory workers. There are additional product development opportunities in usability and alternative methods of band deployment. Therefore, the Olin College SCOPE team is working with Boston Scientific to investigate designs for alternate methods of ligation band deployment that address these issues. The project will involve mechanical design, component testing, materials selection and analysis, and manufacturing analysis. The team will brainstorm concepts and develop rough prototype devices. They will then use modeling, prototyping and testing methods to assess the effectiveness of the final design. The main goal of the project is to provide Boston Scientific with a prototyped design that increases the product's manufacturability and meets the needs of their customers.

The Olin Autonomous Surface Craft (OASC) was developed during the 2007‐08 academic year in a partnership between the Olin College of Engineering SCOPE program (Senior Consulting Project for Engineers) and Schlumberger. Five Olin students worked on the OASC over the course of two semesters towards the goal of presenting the sponsoring scientists at Schlumberger with a platform capable of doing underwater acoustic imaging. This paper will describe the OASC and its capabilities and present the results of some tests that have been performed.

This project is to develop a robotic tractor that can perform multiple farm tasks, such as plowing, disking and spraying, with a view toward increasing productivity while creating a safer work environment in the process. A set of low-cost, adaptive components that could be added on to any tractor will allow any farmer, no matter how small the operation, to reap the benefits of robotics technology in the agricultural sector.

This project is aimed at improving an existing wood burning stove design by Estufas Ixiles Stove Co., an initiative of Community Enterprise Solutions. There are two primary focuses to this project. The first is to improve the design, making it: Less expensive Easier to assemble Appeal to the design values of our users Be at least as energy efficient as the current model The second is to address the business model by: Understanding the current market and value-chain Understanding the partnerships between CES and local entrepreneurs Studying the competition (i.e. other stove distribution organizations) Increasing the sustainability of the low-cost business model built around the product Ultimately, the principal goal is to drive the cost of the stove as low as possible while maintaining or increasing usability, energy efficiency, ease of assembly, and ease of distribution.

The Boston Scientific-Pleural team is working on a minimally invasive method to visualize the pleural cavity and take biopsy samples to aid in the diagnosis of pleural effusions.

In collaboration with ROCONA, Inc., we are researching urine and biosensors in order to develop a system that would monitor health by regularly checking levels of various compounds in urine and transmitting information to physicians. This would improve healthcare by giving doctors access to more regular data regarding many aspects of patient health. We will explore the potential applications and technologies for this product idea and design its implementation and function.

The Problem In the coming years, a large percentage of the population will be moving into retirement and old age. This generation of Baby Boomers is generally far more comfortable with technology than current seniors, and can be expected to maintain their interest in technology as their physical abilities decline and health care needs increase. A great opportunity, then, lies in developing accessible technologies that improve seniors' connectivity, happiness and standard of care. Project Overview The Nortel SCOPE team will work on developing a product or service in the area of health care for elderly people, with an emphasis on the use of telecommunications technology. The first semester will be spent meeting with users to determine their needs and goals, and then brainstorming possible solutions to the problems that we have identified. With Nortel's approval, we will select one product or service to go forward with by the end of the first semester, and will have a working prototype by the end of the academic year.

Pratt and Whitney uses "station probes" to measure pressures and temperatures in the flow path of gas turbine engine subsystems, including the fan, low and high-pressure compressors , combustor, high-pressure turbine, and low-pressure turbine. The principle goal for the modularized probe program is to build a working prototype of a station probe that is wirelessly connected to the data acquisition system. This requires rethinking the probe design to embed the entire signal conditioning hardware into the probe. In addition, the electronic networking and link into the data system will have to be changed. This year's team will focus on the design of the probe-environment control systems and the integration of last year's team's work into a prototype system. The environment control system will ensure the accuracy and precision of the pressure and temperature sensors. A wireless station probe will greatly reduce cost as less effort will be required to interface with the station probes. Tests of the prototype will be done in a Pratt and Whitney high-speed wind tunnel.

The Lexmark SCOPE team will be researching and developing a new type of polymer foam which meets a target range of specifications for the toner adder roll component of laser printers. This will include research into foaming techniques, polymer chemistry and testing procedures in addition to application of this research through materials synthesis. Additionally, the Lexmark SCOPE team will be conceptualizing a novel system to fuse loose toner powder to the paper during the printing process. The objective is to create a fuser that heats up more quickly and efficiently. This will involve investigating new technologies and materials that will be applicable to designing an innovative fusing method.

The Vision Robotics SCOPE team will conceptualize, design, and prototype an automated fruit picking end effector for use by the tree fruit industry. The design will include considerations for low production costs, a life time on the order of millions of cycles, and a picking time of less than a second.

With the advent of the Internet, control systems have become more complex, distributed, and remote. This introduces many issues involving security, resilience, and implementation. The IBM SCOPE team sought to create an easy-to-use programming interface for networked control systems. This programming interface implemented a proposal made by last year’s IBM SCOPE team for security and resilience in control systems. A sample control systems application was used to demonstrate the new interface.

The Autodesk SCOPE team was tasked with redesigning the software learning experience for students and professionals. The team spent the first semester researching software learning, motivation psychology, skill development, existing CAD program methodologies, game design, and classroom teaching practices to gain a comprehensive understanding of how software learning can be improved. Over the course of one month in San Francisco during the winter break, the team quickly iterated through five versions of their concept for a learning map environment. Inspired by the technology tree structure of popular videogames, the students devised a linear, nodular system to teach a software program. They layered game metaphors, such as achievements and advancements, into the technology tree in order to motivate learning exploration and aspiration. They imagined a system in which the user would sequentially unlock levels, conquer skill sets, and adventure into unknown learning terrain.

The Raytheon SCOPE Team worked on a proprietary project for Raytheon Company related to communications, radar waveforms and radiofrequency amplifiers. The project was for the Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business segment of Raytheon. IDS uses its strengths in command, sensors, control and communication, effects, and mission support to provide a variety of integrated defense solutions.

The AGCO SCOPE team developed a smart rinse verification system for a post-emergent agricultural sprayer. When spraying a field, an operator must switch between chemicals to adjust for different plant conditions and types of crops. Due to the nature of the chemicals used, the system must be completely rinsed to remove all traces of the old chemicals before new ones are used. If the sprayer is not fully rinsed, the chemical residue remaining in the system may harm the new crop. Through research, ideation, design, and fabrication, the Olin team built a prototype system that provides feedback to the operator regarding when it is safe to proceed with loading the new solution.

The purpose of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory 2010-2011 SCOPE project was to build upon last year’s development of an affordable, high accuracy relative position sensor. In certain situations, it is desirable to have a potentially expendable unmanned system that will serve to prevent damage to a more valuable, manned system. Expendability necessitates low-cost; therefore, it is important that the unmanned vehicle not contain expensive technology. Last semester, the Lincoln Laboratory SCOPE team researched a few different approaches to tracking the relative location of the unmanned vehicle and used this research to redesign the system architecture. This semester, the team focused on implementation and system integration.

The Nicastro Lab at Brandeis University is studying the 3D structure of cells and macromolecules in their native state. High-resolution imaging of sections of life-like, preserved cells via electron microscopy is currently difficult, if not impossible, because current sample preparation methods result in numerous cutting artifacts that distort the sample. The Olin SCOPE team developed a prototype device to manipulate specimens at cryogenic temperatures in order to reduce cutting artifacts. Crucial challenges for the team included high-precision machine design, extreme temperatures and highly localized temperature control. This work was primarily supported through a MRSEC grant from the National Science Foundation.

The Boston Scientific Polymer SCOPE team has worked to characterize two novel polymers and evaluate their potential use in medical devices. Polymers currently play a key role in biomedical devices and have many applications including use in surgical tools, as coatings on implantable devices, and even as components of drug-eluting devices. This year’s SCOPE team researched and identified applications for these novel polymers, developed a testing plan and associated protocols to characterize relevant properties of the novel polymers, and then used these results to inform recommendations on the use of the materials in medical device production. The team developed and executed six major experiments related to properties particularly significant for biomedical devices. Through the execution of these experiments, the team produced finalized versions of validated protocols that could be used in the future or further expanded for more comprehensive experiments.

The Adsys SCOPE team designed a ping pong playing robot. The goal of the demonstrator is to showcase the capabilities of Adsys Controls in vision systems, dynamics, and robotics control systems. The demonstrator utilizes Adsys Controls’ ProLight-based high speed vision system as well as their commercial FPGA Image Processing Toolkit libraries. The team tackled the technically challenging problem of detecting, tracking, and manipulating a ping pong ball in real time.

Lexmark consultants assist customers in making more efficient use of printing devices to reduce cost, save employees’ time, and reduce consumption of paper and electricity. Currently, consultants visit a company to determine the location, capabilities, and usage of current printing devices. They then analyze this data and propose a new configuration in which old devices are replaced with new energy efficient ones and underutilized devices are consolidated. The task of manually analyzing device data is costly and slow. The goal of the SCOPE project was to develop software to facilitate this process by automating the generation of new device configurations.

Both benign and cancerous medical conditions can obstruct the esophageal lumen, resulting in pain and severe difficulty swallowing. To alleviate these symptoms, esophageal stents can be used to hold the esophagus open. However, existing stent designs often migrate after they are placed in the esophagus. This movement reduces the efficacy of treatment and sometimes requires re-intervention to remove the stent, ultimately negatively affecting patient health. Boston Scientific asked the 2009-2010 SCOPE team to design an esophageal stent or stent-like device that reduced migration. The team presented several novel proof-of-concept ideas for such a stent. The 2010-2011 Boston Scientific Stent Team extended these ideas by further specifying and prototyping each design before examining the feasibility of each prototype through more robust experimental design. The team developed and performed assays to answer the questions, "Will this idea reduce migration?" and "Can a stent incorporating this idea be feasibly manufactured, deployed, and later removed if necessary?” Based on the results of this testing, the team made recommendations to Boston Scientific concerning the functionality and feasibility of each anti-migration concept and how to proceed with further development.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. is one of the most prominent companies in the industrial safety market. A significant portion of this field is made up of emergency stop cable pull switches, which provide access to an emergency stop at all necessary points in an industrial environment. When an emergency stop cable is pulled, coupled machinery is stopped in order to avert an impending crisis. The cables, made of polymer coated stainless steel, are subject to thermal expansion caused by temperature variation of the environment, such that the force they exert on the switches may vary. This can cause nuisance tripping, resulting in costly interruptions. In this project, the SCOPE team identified improvements to the emergency stop system and developed a solution that alleviates the negative effects of temperature change on the system. Their design for the next generation of cable pull switches tolerates a large temperature range and is scalable for longer cable runs which gives Rockwell an advantage in the stagnant market. The concept the team devised is an optical sensing system to differentiate between movement due to thermal expansion and movement due to an emergency pull.

The Parietal Systems, Inc. (PSI) SCOPE Team developed a robotic platform for PSI to demonstrate their advanced sensor processing algorithms. The team built an autonomous walking robot that mimics the motion of a scorpion. This eight-legged robot has three walking gaits: one to move forward and backwards, one to sidestep, and one to rotate. The robot contains a variety of sensors to avoid objects and autonomously navigate toward a target. The sensor data, including a video feed, can also be transmitted wirelessly to a workstation for further processing and control.