St. Norbert College CS 460 - Capstone Experience - Spring 2003
Seniors The Projects Pictures

John Rousseau I Can See Clearly Now 5:30pm, Monday, April 28
Cofrin 11

Some people take their vision for granted; it is passed off as one of the senses. Robots have no natural senses, nor do they have instincts. We, as programmers, must make the effort to give robots "senses", and allow them to "learn". I have given a robot "vision" by allowing it to follow a specific object based on color. Watch the robot follow a color and learn what it took to give the robot the ability to "see". By the way, this robot was an EZGO golf cart in a former life.


Peter Gapinski Real Time Audio Processing 6:20pm, Monday, April 28
Cofrin 11

My project investigates strategies computer applications can use to provide smooth audio playback. How can an application deal with data transmission that is too slow or too fast? Your audio player shouldn't skip because your car just fell into a huge pothole or your internet connection suddenly becomes clogged with traffic. Changing the way an application collects audio data can create a better listening experience in suboptimal situations.


Andrew Cornelissen Mobile Robot 7:10 pm, Monday, April 28
Cofrin 11

Are you interested in mobile robots and how they function? If so, you will want to meet Kasper. Kasper is a mobile robot which features the Handy Board processor. Kasper utilizes two different types of environment detectors, including photocells and bump sensors. These detectors help Kasper to achieve a various set of tasks involving line following and maneuvering on a grid system. My project investigated threads, preemption, and other event programming concepts involved in programming robots. Given the proper environment, Kasper has been taught to mow a lawn or even vacuum a room.


Philip Busse Visual Cryptography 8:00pm, Monday, April 28
Cofrin 11
There are many powerful secret-sharing schemes that enable you to encode a document or file so that nobody can decipher it without access to the encrypted shares and a computer to perform the calculations necessary to decrypt the secret document. Visual Cryptography is a secret-sharing method that encrypts a secret image into several shares but requires neither computer nor calculations to decrypt the secret image. Instead, the secret image is reconstructed visually: simply by overlaying the encrypted shares, the secret image becomes clearly visible to you. To perform this encryption, I have created a program that encrypts black-and-white bitmaps so that the original image is only visible when specific subgroups of the shares are superimposed.

Tyler Raulin Signaling on the CCR 1:00pm, Tuesday, April 29
PAC Auditorium
The computer controlled railroad is able to manage the resources of the entire track, but how is the user to know whether the train can get these resources before it is too late? I have developed a signaling system which will alert the user about the section of track that is approaching so dangerous situations can be avoided. Deadlock avoidance has never been so easy or so interactive.


Nickolas Perz A Language for the CCR 1:50pm, Tuesday, April 29
PAC Auditorium
The Computer Controlled Railroad (CCR) can be used to learn about low-level programming. I have developed a standardized programming language that controls the speed and direction of a train, the turnout switches, and allows feedback from the photocell detectors on the track. This Train Programming Language (TPL) supports variables, constants, conditionals, assignments, arithmetic operations, two addressing modes, and even a random number generator to facilitate programming. TPL contains some nice features of Pascal and Basic but is low-level, like assembly language, to give the programmer a detailed control of the CCR.

Scott Larson Bar Code Scanner 2:40pm, Tuesday, April 29
PAC Auditorium
Everyone has seen a bar code scanner at a mall or at a grocery store. But what went on behind the scenes to get the scanner set up? For my senior project, I wrote a Visual Basic driver for a bar code scanner. I had to learn the ins and outs of bar codes in order to talk to and read from the scanner. The scanner is used to calculate the speed of a train on the Computer Controlled Railroad.

Zachary Leider Infrared Remote Controlled Computer 6:00pm, Tuesday, April 29
Cofrin 11
Have you ever been in bed listening to music on your computer when a song comes on that you just do not want to listen to? What do you do? If you're like me, you simply struggle through the whole song because the idea of getting out of bed to change it is too daunting of a task. Well, struggle no longer! With the help of this AMAHR (A Man and His Remote) program, you will be able to play whatever song you desire without sacrificing laziness. AMAHR also controls the system mouse and other applications such as WinDVD and MS Word. All you need is any TV or VCR remote and AMAHR can program it. Don't get up. Lay back, relax, and enjoy man's second best friend, his remote.

Michael Nuthals Multi-Axis Real Time Camera 6:50pm, Tuesday, April 29
Cofrin 11
The crux of my project was to develop and build a remotely controlled camera that is able to move in both the X and Y planes under the control of a software driven utility. My investigation includes the nuts and bolts behind the hardware and motors used to maneuver the camera.