Informatics students showcase assistive robotics at SDP Course Trade Fair

The System Design Project (SDP) is an undergraduate course involving the construction of a system of significant complexity under conditions designed to give insights into real world teamwork. The current theme of these projects is “assistive robotics”.

Every year, the course concludes with a public fair where students show off their systems, as well as being evaluated in parallel by a jury of industry judges and staff.

There was a great deal of originality this year with projects addressing a wide range of topics, from strawberry harvesting, calligraphy writing and chair stacking, to automated clothes folding!

An audience of the students, supervisors, and visitors from industry were given the chance to vote for their favourite project. This was followed by a prize ceremony where the winners of a variety of categories were announced.

Best Overall (KAL), Best Pitch (Edinburgh Innovations)

Sensed

Sensory substitution device for facial expression and depth detection

Best User Interface (UserTesting)

Auto Tuned

Automatic string instrument tuner

Most Societal Impact (Frog / Capgemini Invent)

Brailled

Braille learning device bridging the gap in braille education

Best Engineering (Amazon)

Foozbot

Robotic foosball player with app and sensor system

Best Sustainability (Skyscanner)

BinButler

Autonomous bin delivery service powered by a web app

Peer, Public, and Technicians' Prizes

Rowan4

Autonomous Connect 4 board with AI opponent

SDP’s history predates the establishment of the School of Informatics. It’s more than a taught course; it’s an institution within Informatics. The system to be designed in the project has varied over the years from robot shopping through Mars lander, robot mine clearance, robot football to assistive robotics.