AI and Machine Learning with Robotics

 Avi Szczupakiewicz, Class of 2023, completed major in Engineering Science

The journey began with brainstorming for everyday problems and common issues. After reaching out to a former teacher and mentor, I was given the answer which was about people in their school putting recyclables in the wrong bins. I decided that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Robotics was the answer.

Through my research, I found a program that allowed me to capture videos of the items I wanted to be trained and recognized. Unfortunately, the program lost support, and I couldn't export the file, so I had to scrap that idea. I then found a Google Colab file that allowed me to create an Object Detection Model, but it was a slow and tedious process that had to be done manually.

After hours of manually training the model, I had the files I needed. I then reused many parts the school already had, including a Raspberry Pi 3, rails, and a motor, which helped me save money. However, I had to purchase a few bins, a second motor, and a stepper driver, and I already owned the rest of the necessary parts like wires and plugs.

I believe that future adaptations of this project could benefit from a Raspberry Pi 4 as AI is computationally demanding. At the current state of the project, I have the proof of concept working on a small scale and in the future it could be adapted to full sized bins and in every school and office.

Overall, I learned that senior projects are an essential milestone in the academic life of students, culminating all the knowledge and skills they have acquired throughout their academic journey. Through the development of the Smart Recycle project, I gained knowledge of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and hardware components including cameras, sensors, motors, and microcontrollers, as well as the development of custom software to control and coordinate these components.

I am confident that the Smart Recycle project has the potential to improve the efficiency and accuracy of recycling, reducing contamination and promoting sustainability, and I am proud of the work I have accomplished throughout its development.

Heart Disease and AI

Michael Mauceri, Verrazzano Class of 2020, Completed Major in Computer Science with a Minor in Mathematics

My capstone project was about diagnosing heart disease in patients using Machine Learning, which is a branch of artificial intelligence. I was originally a Nursing major and switched to Computer Science, and I wanted to do research related to the medical field for my project. I had never taken a course or had any experience in Machine Learning, and this research seemed like a great time to dive into this topic because it works well with medical data. I assumed my research would be quick, but the rabbit hole became deeper and deeper, and soon I was knee deep with information about Machine Learning and Data Mining. I became very overwhelmed with the amount of information about the topic but over a few months, it became easier to focus on what was important.

            My research involved analyzing whether a computer could do a better job at diagnosing heart disease without using testing that involved radiation, which is expensive and invasive to patients. This became complicated, as I did not know all the medical terms included in the research and needed to consult a nurse. This part of the research was also interesting because as I asked the nurse questions, I ended up with not only more information, but even more questions about how they treat diseases that affect the human heart.

Had there been even more time to do the research I would have continued by looking for more patient data than what I had started with. I also would have consulted doctors or heart specialists for more information about heart diseases and their causes. I would have also liked to use more Machine Learning algorithms that were more modern and more efficient in data processing. Although I did not enjoy writing the research paper, it was very rewarding to finish and seeing it completed made me feel extremely proud of myself.