1. ME 490B: Engineering Senior Design Project – SPRING 2016
Mechanical Engineering Department
Smart Board Project
Final Report
Group Members
Monday Section
Kevin Bayan
Jeffrey Cantada
Gabriel Dariano
Jared Galligar

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Table of Contents
Contents Page Number
1. Abstract 3
2. Nomenclature 3
3. Executive Summary 4
4. Introduction 5
4.1 Project Definition 5
4.2 Team Assignments 5
5. Design 5
5.1 Specifications 5
5.2 Concepts 6
5.3 Testing 6
5.4 Design Solution 7
6. Prototype Design 8
7. Final Design 9
8. Conclusions and Recommendations 9
9. Acknowledgements 9
10. References 10

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1. Abstract
The computer controlled smart board project is an embodiment of many important aspects within
the field of Mechanical Engineering. Although the project does not focus in Mechanical Design, it goes
beyond the limit by emphasizing multiple disciplines of Engineering. This project facilitates toward the
understanding of Electro-Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Kee Moon designated a task to a group of
individuals with an objective to perform a critical design revision of an existing project that was initiated
during the previous year. The goal of this second iteration is to have the Smart Board function
autonomously without the need of physical wire connections and function through the LabView program.
After careful determination, the group decided to implement microcontrollers and an EMG sensor that
will assist in satisfying the objectives. During the preliminary research process, it was established that the
best solution for meeting the objectives is utilizing the National Instrument’s myRio microcontroller and
Thalmic Labs' MYO Armband. Deciding to use the myRIO microcontroller allows to operate seamlessly
with LabView along with working with the MYO Armband. Combining the microcontroller and the EMG
sensor with LabView has currently resulted into a working experiment. The outcome of the Smart Board
has proven to be successful in satisfying the objective, and the project is now prepared for being a test bed
for relative applications in the future. The purpose for these added features is to ultimately have the Smart
Board assist those with limited means of movement, personal modes of transportation, and enhance the
industrial experience.
2. Nomenclature
Term Definition
Smart Board An autonomous device that provides mobility
assistance.
LabView (Laboratory Virtual
Instrument Engineering Workbench)
A system-design platform and development
environment for a visual programming language
developed by National Instruments [1].
NI myRIO National Instruments' microcontroller that provides
reconfigurable Inputs and Outputs (I/O) in faciliating
understanding concepts of control theory, robotics,
mechatronics, and embedded systems.
MYO Armband A wearable Electromyography (EMG) sensor based
device that provides gesture and motion control.
SaberTooth 2x32 Regenerative Motor
Driver
A dual channel motor driver capable of supplying 32
Amps to two motors [2].
COTS Commercial Off The Shelf.
GUI Graphical User Interface.

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3. Executive Summary
The Smart Board project fundamentally incorporates the use of a microcontroller and an EMG
sensor based device. The primary function of the Smart Board is to understand human gesture control. In
order to achieve this operation, a SaberTooth 2x32 Motor Driver had to be implemented in order to
operate the existing motors. This motor driver was chosen specifically to meet the motor specifications
and to be compatible to the NI myRIO.
In order for this project to be successful, a Project Schedule was created. The individuals in the
group were assigned specific tasks with a start date and an approximation of the end date. The
Preliminary review focused on which design path the Smart Board was ultimately going to follow.
Mechanical restoration was replacing mechanical design hardware of poor quality with fabricated and
COTS hardware. Alongside mechanical restoration is the LabView Interface which focused on coding
and creation of a GUI. The most difficult part of the schedule was the MYO/LabView Integration and
Gesture Configuration Management. The NI myRIO and the MYO were not designed to interact with
each other by default. Through modification of the LabVIEW code and having the laptop receive the
signal from each gesture, the microcontroller was able to understand and process the information enabling
control of the Smart Board.
Although the group was provided with the Smart Board from the previous year, there were
Mechanical challenges that this project faced which included poor quality of bracket supports and
misalignment of the wheels and belts. Custom wheel brackets were fabricated to resolve the issue of the
Smart Board not tracking in a straight line. In order to fix the misaligned and improper tension of the
drive belt, a slotted motor mount was added to create additional tension and shim the wheels
appropriately. Another issue was the improper mounting solution of the main drive batteries which
slipped out very easily. The group designed and fabricated new battery mounts in order to improve a more
stable mounting solution. Finally, the addition of a proper enclosure was required to protect the
electronics.
1/25/16 2/1/16 2/8/16 2/15/16 2/22/16 2/29/16 3/7/16 3/14/16 3/21/16 3/28/16 4/4/16 4/11/16 4/18/16 4/25/16 5/2/16
Preliminary Review
Mechanical Restoration
LabView Interface
Initial Performance Evaluation
Critical Design Review
MYO/LabView Integration
Mechanical Design Enhancement
Smart Board Reassembly
Final Performance Evaluation
Final Release
Smart Board Project Schedule
Figure 1: Project Schedule

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After receiving the MYO from Thalmic Labs, proper calibration was needed in order to get
accurate gestures to process. This information is then relayed to the laptop with LabVIEW via blue tooth.
LabVIEW then interprets this signal and forwards the information to the myRIO via WiFi and thus
enables gesture control of the Smart Board.
4. Introduction
4.1 Project Definition:
The Smart Board Project is to ultimately test and foresee human gesture control. This project is to
facilitate and expand the knowledge of understanding multiple disciplines of engineering with Mechanical
Engineering applications. The combination between the NI myRIO and the MYO Armband should not be
limited to the Smart Board, but to use the concept in other applications. The potential applications of this
project will assist those with limited mobility and enhance the industrial experience.
4.2 Team Assignments
The members of the Smart Board project are Kevin Bayan, Jeffrey Cantada, Gabriel Dariano, and
Jared Galligar. The responsibilities and their ownership is listed in Table 1 below.
Tasks Owner
Preliminary Review Team
Mechanical Restoration Jared Galligar
LabView Interface Kevin Bayan
Jeffrey Cantada
Gabriel Dariano
Initial Performance Evaluation Team
Critical Design Review Team
MYO/LabView Integration and Gesture
Configuration Management
Kevin Bayan
Jeffrey Cantada
Gabriel Dariano
Mechanical Design Enhancement Jared Galligar
Smart Board Reassembly Jared Galligar
Final Performance Evaluation Team
Final Release Team
Table 1: Tasks and Responsibilities
5. Design
5.1 Specifications
Major specifications pertaining to the design are as follows: No physical alterations to the existing
board, the board must be completely computer controlled with all the necessary programming via LabView,
operate under human gesture controlled, and be open to modular functionality and user-friendly for
additional elements and features. The Smart Board must understand human gestures that control moving
forward, turning left, turning right, and going in reverse. With the included gestures that the MYO can

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understand, a gesture must be mapped and programmed into a fail-safe function. The fail-safe gesture is
used for emergencies if the Smart Board does not operate in accordance to the user's desired outcome.
Critical components to allow the Smart Board to operate are listed in the Bill of Materials below in
Table 2.
QTY UOM MANUFACTURER DESCRIPTION TITLE VENDOR
1 EA SDSU SMART BOARD UNIT SDSU
1 EA SABERTOOTH DUAL MOTOR ADAPTER SDSU
1 EA NATIONAL INST. NI myRIO-1900
NATIONAL
INSTRUMENTS
1 EA THALMIC LABS MYO ARMBAND THALMIC LABS
2 EA NOBLE WIRE 0.250” QUICK CONNECT
E&M AUTO
PARTS
1 EA RADIOSHACK 25A-24VDC SWITCH RADIOSHACK
1 EA RADIOSHACK 30/40A-12VDC-4- RELAY RADIOSHACK
1 EA SMC
7.4V SHORTY 4400mAh
60C LiPO
SMC-RACING
Table 2: Bill of Materials
5.2 Concepts
One design solution was to go with the NI 9505 Full G-Bridge DC Drive Module and NI 9467
GPS Module. The goal of this design was to enable GPS control of the Smart Board. The NI 9467 allows
for accurate data timestamping, system clock setting, gating data acquisition, and synchronization of
global waveform acquisition data using the FPGA Timekeeper for myRIO.
Another design solution was to go with the MINDSTORMS Ultrasonic sensor along with the
Touch sensor. This design solution was significantly cheaper than the GPS control route. The sensors are
also compact in size and are relatively easier to program and work with instead of working with research
grade components.
The final design solution that the group decided to go with is the Thalmic Labs MYO gesture
control armband in conjunction with the NI myRIO. The MYO is an EMG sensor that detects the
electrical potential generated by muscle cells in the forearm. By using the MYO, the group is able to
remotely control the Smart Board via hand gestures.
5.3 Testing
After the first installment of the NI myRIO, the Smart Board underwent an initial test phase. The
goal for this test phase was to ensure that the NI myRIO operated well with the SaberTooth and overall
the Smart Board system. This was done through carefully calibrating the LabView code and conducted
iterations of the Smart Board’s performance. Once the NI myRIO became operable with the Smart Board
system, the next test phase was to have the Smart Board travel in a straight line. This is important because
the straight line serves an accurate reference for gesture control. After conducting and evaluating the
previous test phases, the MYO Armband was programmed into the NI myRIO and went through a gesture

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calibration process. As seen in Figure 2 below, these gestures were made available to the MYO Armband
by Thalmic Labs. The Smart Board utilized these gestures to allow the user for control and operation.
Figure 2: MYO Armband Gestures
5.4 Design Solution
Since the Smart Board is an existing project, it was required that the system must have additional
new “smart” features and to be mechanically restored. The restoration of this project dealt with mounting
support for the wheels, power source, and the electronic components. The progression and additional
custom/modified parts can be seen in Figures 3, 4, and 5 below.
Figure 3: Smart Board Project from the Previous Year
Figure 4: Design Solution

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Figure 5: First Revision of the Smart Board
6. Prototype Design
Before finalizing the first revision of the Smart Board, the project was initially provided by
SDSU. The prototype of the first revision can be seen below in Figure 6. This prototype was mainly used
for ensure the operation of the NI myRIO in conjunction with the SaberTooth and having the Smart Board
track in a straight line. After completing and carefully evaluating the prototype design, the Smart Board
project was prepared for its final phase.
Figure 6: Prototype Design

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7. Final Design
The final design of the Smart Board’s first revision can be seen in Figure 5. This illustrates what
has been added and modified to ensure the best functionality that is presently available. The purpose for
this design is to expand and improve the Smart Board by implementing the electronics to other
mechanical structures and adding additional features such as sensor configurations, voice recognition, and
other “smart” methods of control. The final design was a success in providing gesture control.
8. Conclusions and Recommendations
Overall, this project was highly successful in fulfilling the main objective and specifications. The
Smart Board was able to function through human gestures with a minimum response lag. The strengths of
this project was being provided with the initial design of the board by the previous team, and by having
easy access to Dr. Moon’s lab to work on the board. With the board being provided, the group was
allowed to focus solely on the function and not the mechanical design of the Smart Board. A weakness of
the project was that the board, although provided, was not mechanically stable. The group was forced to
make improvements to the design in order for the smart board to actually move in a straight line and be
able to support the weight of a human being.
9. Acknowledgements
The Smart Board group wholeheartedly give thanks to Dr. Kee Moon, Ph.D for acting as our
sponsor and providing the opportunity for working on an existing project that required improvements
beyond the Mechanical Engineering discipline. The Smart Board group acknowledges National
Instruments, Thalmic Labs, DimensionEngineering for guidance, and especially the Mechanical
Engineering Department of San Diego State University.

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References
[1] National Instruments. < http://www.ni.com/myrio/what-is/>
[2] DimensionEngineering. < https://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/sabertooth2x32>
[3] Dr. Kee Moon Ph.D for providing the project and additional sources.