Rose Show displays students' ingenuity, problem-solving skills

May 1—As Rose-Hulman student Neil Bhasin drove a children's-size toy car during Wednesday's Rose Show, he wasn't using a steering wheel.

Instead, he used eye-tracking technology in a project developed with teammates Jacob Dirienzo and Kai Moore.

Where the driver looks, the car goes.

To start the car, the driver closes their eyes for a few seconds; and then, to stop the car, the driver closes their eyes again for a few seconds.

The project was one of 108 on display as part of the annual Rose Show, the college's version of the World's Fair. The event took place in the Sports and Recreation Center Fieldhouse.

This year's projects featured artificial intelligence, generative AI, cloud computing, robotics, gaming and software programming. In addition, students presented thesis research in mathematics and the sciences.

Kai Moore, senior biomedical engineering student, was one of the team members on the Eye-Tracking Ride-In Toy Car project, developed for Geeks for Kids, a non-profit organization based in Kansas City.

"It's for children with mobility disabilities below the neck," Moore explained. Another start/stop mechanism is a button on the headrest, which can be used for children with a little more neck mobility.

The project, which involved a lot of programming, electronics and hardware, made improvements to the current technology used by Geeks for Kids.

The teams' efforts may be used for future Geeks for Kids cars made available to children.

The project means a lot, Moore said. "I feel our target user, children with no mobility below the neck, there's not a lot of products out there for them ... I feel offering them some sort of independence will make their lives a lot better."

Among those admiring students' work was Robert Coons, Rose-Hulman's president.

"I look forward to this day every year," Coons said. "It's an opportunity for these students who have been working so hard to showcase what they can do. Just seeing how creative they are, I get re-invigorated thinking about the future. The future is bright with kids like this."

Another project involved a physical therapy car simulator device for Union Health.

It will be used for rehabilitation of patients recovering from a stroke, hip replacement surgery, or similar health conditions that affect mobility.

Neely Quist-Loheide, site coordinator for the medical rehabilitation unit at Union Health, said the device will help transition patients from the hospital to home.

One thing the patients must be able to do is get in and out of a car, which can be a very big challenge, she said.

The new device replaces an outdated, earlier version developed several years earlier by Rose-Hulman students. The project has been supported by a Union Health Foundation grant.

"They have done a fabulous job," Quist-Loheide said. "This will really make a difference for our patients."

Senior Zak Koehler, a mechanical engineering major, was one of the students who worked on the project.

The new device, which uses a 1994 Ford Ranger from a salvage yard, has more space inside and it can be adjusted up and down — using a controller in back — for different heights, based on vehicles used by the patient.

"We've learned so much ... but there was a lot of trial and error and figuring out how certain things fit together," Koehler said.

He said it "means a ton this will be used by the public and will help people in their recovery process." Koehler had personal reasons for wanting to tackle the project.

A few years ago, his dad was in a car accident and had to have hip replacement surgery. "Seeing him through that recovery process and struggle to do small things like get off the couch or get in and out of a vehicle — that was a lot of what motivated me to do this project," Koehler said.

Other students on the team were Naa Ashifia Anum, Mateen Afkhami, Nathan Dalton, Kaley Hart and Kiley Hart.

The Union Health Physical Therapy Car Simulator was one of five finalists for the William A. Kline Innovation Award as Best of Show.

Other projects at the Rose Show included devices to help NASA and Arizona State University scientists study the Psyche asteroid; a drip irrigation system for Terre Haute's reTHink sustainability organization; as well as civil and environmental engineering teams designing athletic facility expansions for Terre Haute's Miss Softball America and Riley Recreation League organizations.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com. Follow Sue on X at @TribStarSue.