Student-Led Projects

Traditional city streetlights stay at 100% brightness all night, wasting massive amounts of grid electricity on empty roads.

After teaching the AI in Mechatronics curriculum, chapter leads Aarav Rao and Kevin Cui challenged students to build a working prototype using only the components sourced for them. In just 8 hours — with Aarav's and Kevin's on-the-floor guidance — the Davis Library team produced SmartStreet: a physical model built from cardboard and paper with embedded ultrasonic sensors that detect oncoming vehicles in real time and dynamically light up only the lamps ahead of the car, conserving up to 70% of energy during low-traffic hours.

Bridging the gap between code and hardware forced students to wrestle with continuous sensor loops, physical wiring, and real-time logic under a strict time constraint. This hands-on sprint built immense technical resilience, troubleshooting skills, and an engineering-first mindset that no screen-based lesson can replicate.