Meet: Rajib Nandi, '04

I am a Computer Engineering major in my junior year. My primary task in the group was to get the microcontroller and other circuitry functioning. I enjoy staying up all night working on designing microprocessors. For a glimpse of my work visit the NUARM III LB website

I am also interested in embedded devices and enjoy taking courses in Economics too.

contact: r-nandi@northwestern.edu

 

 

Editor's Note:

Rajib's identity cannot be disclosed because he is working on a ultra-secret project of critical importance.

 

 

 

actually, because he refuses to take a picture of himself

Electrical Design:

We were the only group that used a PIC chip to control our device instead of the HandyBoard because the Handy Board lacked enough PWM outputs to actuate more than two servos. The PIC isn't too expensive and easier to program than the Handy Board.

Our initial goal was to interpret EMG signals from the arm muscles and then use thresholds from those signals as inputs to our microcontroller, which would then actuate the corresponding servos. But our EMG detection circuit failed to produce satisfactory results. One reason is that we were unable to filter all of the 60 Hz noise. Although we were able to detect thresholds from signals generated by the function generator we could not interpret signals from the muscles. As a result, we decided to go with switches as inputs to our microcontroller. The switches controlled the mode the arm would operate in and the degree of actuation.

We also integrated an LCD in the circuit that displays which mode the hand is in and what function it is executing. The LCD is a 40x2 character module based on the popular Hitachi Microcontroller.

Diagram of the circuit used in Project Jack: