Senior Design Project

PROBLEM STATEMENT

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As a result of increasing production costs for food related products in the restaurant industry coupled with work related injuries in the kitchen and a lack of product consistency, both the producer and consumer are negatively affected. Producers are forced to increase costs to deal with an ever-increasing wage as well as covering medical expenses for injuries sustained in the workplace. As costs increase so does the price of the goods the consumer purchases. Consumers must also accept that at times as a result of human error on the cook’s behalf, the food they get might be inconsistent with previous experiences at the same establishment.

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To combat this issue automation in the form of a robotic chef will need to be implemented in the workspace. While the end goal is to produce an automated system, which could produce a variety of different menu options, our team will be solely focusing on the production of pancakes as a proof of concept. Equipped with multiple arm utensils coupled with computer vision, this system will be able to perform the same tasks as a human cook and more. An automated cook could work highly efficiently and would require no breaks, not suffer from fatigue and create a consistent product every time. With the implementation of an automated chef arm the cost of labor included in preparing the food could be greatly reduced.

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MY ROLE

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Roles: Team Leader, Meeting Facilitator, Computer Vision Developer

Role Descriptions:

• Team Leader:

  • In charge of the general direction that the team takes when making design decisions.

  • Regularly take in input from my teammates and decide the best plan of action.

  • Prioritize tasks to ensure that the team is working efficiently and will accomplish deliverables as previously agreed upon.

  • Assigning the roles of my team members based on their previous project experience and strengths/ weaknesses.

• Meeting Facilitator:

  • Tracking contributions made by members and meeting deliverable deadlines

  • Establish an agenda to achieve short and long-term goals

  • Conduct team meetings

  • Be the point of contact for the client

  • Lead the team in budget/resource allocation.

• Computer Vision Developer:

  • Developing an aerial tracking program

  • Coordinate the program to determine when a pancake is ready to move to the next stage

  • Manage the budget for the camera and infrared sensors

  • Help with other software jobs when needed.

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(More information can be read using the links below)