Seniors Engineering a Future

Students in Mechanical Engineering and Technology Department (MENT) programs showed their skills in research and robotics at back-to-back events held June 5-6.

At the first event, a capstone expo held at Eastern’s Computer Engineering Building, teams of graduating seniors in mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering technology displayed projects they had worked on over the previous two quarters. (For a full list of teams and projects, click on this Inside EWU announcement.)

Student Dustin Pool and his team, for example, created the EZ Eagle Spa Cover, which utilizes a push-button control to make life easier for hot tub owners. The mechanical lift can be attached to any size cover and opens, via remote control, in a way as to not dump snow and other debris into the water.

The idea popped into his head last winter, Pool says: “I went out to the hot tub and there was a bunch of snow on it, of course. I had to put on my mom’s bunny slippers and a robe to go out and clear off the snow before I could open it.”

Pool recalls that he then shared the lift idea with his capstone team, “We all kind of brainstormed and we landed on one idea and just kind of went with it.”

Esther Kumba’s team investigated applications of the Leidenfrost Effect, a phenomenon involving the formation of vapor layers when liquids interact with a hot surface.

Kumba says she enjoyed collaborating with her team and plans to explore careers in the materials and energy sectors when she returns to her home country of Congo after graduation.

“Eastern is amazing. I have really enjoyed my teammates and my teachers,” Kumba said.

Kevin Uyekawa, meanwhile, has been a full-time Eagle student while working 25 hours a week at Keytronics, interning in the automation and design department. (He is also raising a 6-year-old son as a single father.)

Uyekawa says the automated can crusher pulled in the team members’ combined expertise and work experience because it utilizes recent advances in electronics, sensors, load analysis and other areas.

“There was a lot of cross-over between my job and this project,” Uyekawa said. “I was on the fence between Gonzaga or here when I was transferring from Spokane Falls, and I’m really glad I made the choice to come here.”

The following day, EWU’s annual Robotics Fair showcased a dozen different robots created by juniors and seniors taking an elective robotics class.

Funding from Wells Fargo and the Herbert B. Jones Foundation covered material costs to build the robots, a collaboration of EWU’s Ideation Lab and MENT. The event attracted visitors from area high schools, with 40 students and several teachers making the trip from Mabton, Washington to attend.

Although most of the robots resemble radio-controlled toys, they are actually sophisticated machines that help to support workforce needs. For instance, the Ag/Minesweeping Bot displayed at the fair can rake, till, dispense farming products and, in armed conflict environments, even detect landmines.

“The world is becoming a robotics-based world,” said Philip Appel, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and director of the E-Ship Center. “When you think about it everything in your home has a controller in it, and those are essentially non-moving robots.”

Appel has longtime connections with numerous Spokane-based industries. He believes the region’s economic vitality will increasingly be tied to robotics as companies look for ways to optimize clean room manufacturing and improve other technical processes.

Buck Knives in Post Falls is a company that produces quality handmade knives. Due to increasing demand, Buck Knives is starting to explore the potential of automating some of its manufacturing functions.

Eastern became a partner in that journey when Clint Price, a 24-year-old full-time Buck Knives employee, explored a work-related capstone project leading into his senior year. Price, who will soon graduate with his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and technology, proposed automating the delicate process of sanding blades for one of the company’s most popular knives.

Price’s superiors at Buck Knives not only supported the idea, they sponsored the cost of materials to customize an EWU collaborative robot to perform this function. “With this robot, we were able to achieve the exact edge angle that Buck wants and do it equally on both sides,” Price says.

Buck Knives was pleased with the results, and Price made professional connections along the way. “My team for this capstone project was fantastic. I got a great group of people together who have all had industry experience.”