Flooding has impacted the lives of many, whether it be through physical damage, emotional struggle, or financial burden. Current mechanisms that intend to rectify the effects of flooding are either unattainable to the average consumer, or only serve as temporary solutions that are not viable long term. Our proposed project, D.A.A.M. intends to be a viable solution to this problem that frequents the residents of the local area, and a product that alleviates the struggle of coming across reliable flooding prevention. D.A.A.M. intends to provide a self-sustaining (reliably long term), affordable (lower price tag), and user-friendly (easy to install and use) solution to imminent flooding prevention.

D.A.A.M., the Defensive Anti-Aquatic Action Mechanism, aims to be a solution to local flooding damages and unpredictable weather conditions. By providing a barrier that can keep water out of the user’s properties. This mechanism is an automated mechatronics system that detects water levels near a residence through its water sensor and camera. Data from these sensors will be interpreted and command the motor to either: turn on and engage a rack and pinion actuator holding the barrier, or turn off and remain in standby mode. The states of each of these three sensors will be stored into the system’s microcontroller, parsing the information through a bluetooth module that allows the user to access it via smartphone application.

Poster Presentation

Session 3

2:45pm – 4:00pm
Grand Salon

Mechatronics

We constructed a radically inexpensive ($25) bimodal neuromodulator to treat tinnitus.    
Tinnitus, a phantom perception of sound occurring in the absence of external sound, affects 10-15% of people and is a serious problem for 1-2% of the population. There are few effective treatments, in part because tinnitus is not a single condition with a single cause. A clinical trial in 2020 demonstrated a novel form of treatment called bimodal neuromodulation. Combining an electrical stimulator placed on the tongue in conjunction with headphones simultaneously producing simple sounds, the device commercialized by Lanire resulted in a sustained reduction in tinnitus for a majority of users. This treatment is expensive ($3-4k), available through a few audiologists, and not covered by insurance. Our alternative bimodal neuromodulator uses a ~$20 commercial transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS) as a co-modality with acoustic stimulation. We designed and implemented a simple low-cost electronic circuit that detects the TENS current and transduces it to sound played on a speaker or headphones.
 
We believe our system and Lenire’s work via classical (Pavlovian) conditioning. Bimodal stimulation creates a novel correlation, just as Pavlov did by ringing a bell correlated with feeding his dogs. Repeating the correlation rewires brain circuits – “neurons that fire together wire together”. Our working hypothesis is that hearing loss results in the brain amplifying a sensory expectation that no longer cancels auditory input. Novel bimodal neuromodulation activates latent synaptic plasticity in the affected circuits, so they learn to predict the bimodal correlation. Concurrently, the auditory system also learns or adapts to the absent or reduced high-frequency auditory input, changing the expectation signal and reducing the perceived ringing.
 
We will demonstrate our novel bimodal neuromodulator and explain our rationale for why we expect it to be effective in reducing tinnitus.

Poster Presentation

Session 1

9:15am – 10:30am
Grand Salon

Mechatronics