Every year, engineering students at NIU take part in a senior design showcase to demonstrate innovative work they’ve done. This year will be no different. Well, it will be a little different. First off, because of Illinois’ stay-at-home order the event will be held online. Second, this was the first year that NIU art students have joined some of the teams to help with the look of the projects and supporting materials.
Daniel Ortiz
Daniel Ortiz, as an illustrative design student in the NIU School of Art and Design, didn’t expect that he’d have a chance to help devise a solution to help people who are blind safely navigate through their environment, in a way that is better than a cane or guide dog. But through a collaboration with a senior design team in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, he was able to do just that. Ortiz was part of the interdisciplinary team that developed the project called “Robotic Guiding Device for the Blind.”
Ortiz, a senior illustration major from Aurora, applied the knowledge he has learned in the classroom to provide illustrations of the device, with input from the engineering team.
“It is an awesome experience to make sketches and drawings and get feedback on things that I typically wouldn’t have thought feasible in a real-world environment,” he said.
His is just one of the 87 teams that will demonstrate their Senior Design Projects virtually this year on Friday, May 8 from 1-4 p.m.
Visitors will have the chance to see the posters and abstracts and visit with students in real-time in Microsoft Teams meeting rooms from 1-4 p.m. by visiting go.niu.edu/SeniorDesignDay.
