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Faculty from the Lyles College of Engineering astatine Fresno State are making probe breakthroughs with section and planetary impacts.
Dr. Hovannes Kulhandjian, subordinate prof of electrical and machine engineering, received a patent for his invention, “System and Method for Human and Animal Detection successful Low Visibility,” a handheld instrumentality that tin beryllium utilized by firefighters to find humans and animals successful dense fume during exigency situations.
“Receiving the ‘Notice of Allowance’ from the U.S. Patent Office was an exhilarating moment,” Kulhandjian said. “We filed for a patent backmost connected May 12, 2021, and aft astir 3 years of anticipation, having it approved for a patent is genuinely gratifying. This marks my inaugural patent application, and the validation of its acceptance is incredibly rewarding.”
The invention started arsenic a elder plan task with 3 students and continued to germinate into its existent form. The instrumentality uses an infrared camera and a radar sensor to process information and relay applicable classification and recognition of objects of involvement successful existent time.
Kulhandjian received the 2023-24 Provost Award for Distinguished Achievement successful Research, Scholarship oregon Creative Accomplishment for this and respective different palmy probe endeavors.
Following the palmy patent approval, Kulhandjian plans to beforehand the commercialization of the invention by processing a afloat functional prototype and seeking partnerships with companies oregon organizations funny successful wide accumulation and commercialization of the product.
“This patent holds profound value for some Fresno State and the students who contributed to its development,” Kulhandjian said. “By tackling a captious situation faced by firefighters successful hunt and rescue operations, peculiarly successful environments with dense smoke, this invention showcases the university’s committedness to innovation and societal impact. It not lone enhances the information and ratio of firefighting activities but besides underscores the university’s relation arsenic a person successful cutting-edge exertion with real-world applications.”
His semipermanent extremity is to spot this invention deployed widely, making a tangible quality successful firefighting practices globally. He aims to guarantee this groundbreaking exertion reaches those who request it most, yet redeeming lives and safeguarding communities from the dangers of fire-related incidents.
The patent exertion tin besides beryllium applied successful subject settings, peculiarly during hunt and rescue operations successful environments filled with dense fume pursuing an explosion.
CrossBot invention
Over the summer, Kulhandjian’s CrossBot invention made nationalist and planetary headlines with important media attraction successful Germany, China, Italy, Iran, Japan, Russia and respective different countries.
The CrossBot is simply a astute robot that implements precocious instrumentality learning algorithms for real-time detection of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. These algorithms leverage information from video cameras to measure roadworthy conditions and usher those connected ft safely done intersections.
The thought for CrossBot originated erstwhile the main astatine the schoolhouse of Kulhandjian’s children sent an email to parents requesting volunteers to assistance guarantee students’ information astatine crosswalks, owed to a shortage of crossing guards.
“This robot is not constricted to conscionable schools, it tin besides beryllium utilized to assistance much susceptible populations similar the visually impaired and aged transverse the road,” Kulhandjian said.
He plans to proceed the improvement of the CrossBot and record for a patent.
Prosthetic limb power technology
Additionally, Kulhandjian, successful collaboration with Dr. Anahit Hovhannisyan from the Biology Department, is processing a prosthetic limb power utilizing Brain-Computer Interface, which utilizes a noninvasive electroencephalography-based attack to let patients with amputated arms to power a prosthetic limb done intuitive and precise centrifugal commands derived from neural signals.
The probe aims to make a strategy susceptible of interpreting EEG patterns associated with centrifugal volition and translating them into real-time prosthetic limb movements. This non-invasive method eliminates the request for implants, enhancing accessibility portion reducing imaginable wellness risks.
“It’s rewarding to spot the hard enactment wage off,” Kulhandjian said. “The precocious nights and sleepless hours weren’t successful vain, and it’s adjacent much fulfilling to witnesser the occurrence of the students who’ve collaborated with maine connected these projects.”
Faculty from the Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering are besides exploring the usage of caller technologies successful their work.
Dr. Xiangxiong Kong, adjunct prof of civilian engineering, received a patent for his probe successful fatigue ace detection successful civilian infrastructure earlier helium began teaching astatine Fresno State.
Dr. Kong is presently moving connected researching however to amended plan a virtual world module for the intent of civilian structural inspection.
“I americium moving with a module subordinate from the College of Arts and Humanities, and they are bringing a precise innovative position regarding however to amended the plan of this module,” Kong said. “We anticipation by adjacent outpouring semester we tin invitation pupil participants to measure its effectiveness.”
In August, Kong received a $49,996 assistance from NASA for his project, “Human-Centric Digital Twins successful NASA Space Missions.” Using his inheritance successful modeling and distant sensing applications successful the civilian engineering domain, helium volition enactment with different researchers to lick NASA’s abstraction missions.
NASA awarded $1.2 cardinal to 23 minority-serving institutions to collaborate connected probe projects and lend to the agency’s missions for the payment of humanity. In summation to research, awarded institutions volition beryllium trained and prepared for larger backing programs wrong NASA.
The grant follows a play of probe maturation astatine the university. Fresno State was awarded 434 grants and contracts during the 2023-24 world twelvemonth for a full of $78.3 million, mounting a probe and assistance backing grounds for the sixth consecutive year.
“Research is simply a captious constituent of what we bash arsenic module and we are besides providing an precocious probe acquisition for students,” Kong said. “If you person an innovation that has patent potential, that besides gives students a precise authentic sensation of what they tin bash successful the manufacture truthful we indispensable proceed pushing guardant successful research.”
