ok. first of all, i just reread the community rules so i hope i'm posting in the right forum. if not, please inform me and tell what i can do about it.

i know that you don't like people posting about this particular topic. but i have searched the entire site for entries with "final year topic" as keywords. i was a quarter of the way when i knew i just couldn't go through all of them. but please believe me when i say that i'm not some lazy student trying to have it easy.

i have been thinking about what would be best as a final project for months now. but since i have not come up with any that are really feasible or in some way done before, i thought that it was time to ask for some help from experts. Because i've already googled it and came up with nothing still. The start of our data gathering, documentation and such for our proposal will officially be in June but we won't know until about August or September if our proposal has been approved. i'm from Asia so we have a different timeframe than you. i just really need some ideas, guys.

i am studying BS in Computer Engineering. i am majoring in Software. this is actually a group project and my group mates are majoring in Networking. we need to incorporate the two. but we are also allowed to make a project that deals with hardware design and implementation since this would also include software programming. our teacher (not adviser since we don't have one yet) adviced us to make something that is flexible and can be used by different individuals or companies, if we want it to be purely software and/or networking.

we've been told that proposals that are helpful to our university have a greater chance of approval. but we don't know what more our university needs. aside from having a main database system, we have a library system, a student database system, our clinics have their own systems. i think almost all the departments have their own individual systems. but if you have any other ideas in this regard, they would be greatly appreciated.

other proposals that they say our teachers are receptive to are those that are useful to the industry. or are industry-based or something. but i really don't know what the computer/technology industry needs. i ask from my friends who are already working but they tell me they also have no idea. would you believe that? anyway, our group has also been talking about projects that could involve hardware. we are a little apprehensive since most of those who came before us had unstable projects when dealing with hardware. more than a few failed the course because their prototypes failed at the last minute.

ok, anyway, here are some of the stuff we've talked about. and later, i'll include previous proposals and projects.

ours:
- one of our group mates owns an internet cafe (where you pay to use the internet). they use this program where the number of minutes/hours a certain user is logged on is recorded and it automatically computes for the amount to be paid. it also generates daily and monthly reports with regards to income generated, total number of hours used, and the system (software and hardware) errors encountered. the last one is to be inputted as they occur. basically, it just keeps a record of it.
* our problem with this is that although it could be useful, it is fairly easy to do.

- a robotic arm that pours beer (a joke!) or any beverage into a glass.
* we were thinking that the glass had to be of different sizes. and would pour at different levels depending on the input given.
* our problem with this is that we don't know how useful this is or what its application would be in the real world.

- security with use of fingerprint detection or something
* our department already uses this. of course it was made and installed by professionals.

previous proposals: (i don't really know what some were actually called so i'll just put the description)
- robotic soccer arm
- robotic arm that picked up balls with/through color detection
- spelling wizard (they say a word and you spell it. it has increasing level and difficulty. they used FPGA with this one.)
- security through voice identification
- something to do with maps. the program calculates the shortest route from a certain origin to the destination. this is a purely software project.
- i think the university's clinic system was a project from a couple years back. i don't really know what features they included though.
- there were robotic arms that did something like pick a ball, toss a ball, put a ball in a box or something. and they used visual detection or whatever. they basically used a webcam.

*** i'm sorry, i know this is long. i just wanted to show that i (we) do have ideas. i also included previous proposal because we are allowed to use their ideas. we are allowed to upgrade or improve their projects. i know these sound very simple to you so i'm hoping that you could really help. thank you so so so much! and i do hope i didn't break any rules.


P.S. we are planning to use JAVA simply because it is a freeware. in making our proposal and in the end, our prototypes themselves, we have to think about their feasibility and whether or not they are applicable and realistic. BUT we are still open to change. together, we know C/C++, ASM (if that's any use), JAVA, PHP, HTML, JSP, MYSQL, Adobe and Micromedia Apps if needed.

It is for you to come up with new ideas, I will comment on a few

- a robotic arm that pours beer (a joke!) or any beverage into a glass.

Would require fairly complex engineering. There is a good chance that the arm will break the glass. Pretty expensive and by no means simple. Would require a good degree of mathematics like inverse and forward kinematics if you want a proper simulation of a human arm.

- security with use of fingerprint detection or something

A difficult project, would require complex image processing and pattern recognition. However there has been much work done on this field already, you can easily find refrences and in some cases the complete code. Search ACM and IEEE for some good papers.

- robotic arm that picked up balls with/through color detection

Again difficult, would require colour extraction via image processing in addition to the arm.

- security through voice identification

Cant comment on the difficulty but ideally it would require some concepts of digital signal processing. This can easily be done by some software by Microsoft (I do not remember the name).

- there were robotic arms that did something like pick a ball, toss a ball, put a ball in a box or something. and they used visual detection or whatever. they basically used a webcam.

Again fairly difficult.

thank you for your reply.

actually, the last 3 you've mentioned are projects that have already been done. and successfully at that. if i were ever to use them, it would have to be an upgrade or a new feature would be added.

but you are right. it is wrong to ask for ideas. instead, comments regarding my ideas would help a lot. thank you

seem like good ideas to me but they have all been done before. Quite ambitious too, those sort of things are generally done as PHD research

and yeah posting for ideas is fine. We just dont like people who want us to do work for them, or ask for ideas after showing no effort. You have shown effort, therefore you will reecieve help

i will see about moving this to comp/sci board

@jbennet - this sort of topic students do from all over the world, it is just UK that is realy behind, or put it this way they are lowering expectations each year (most common BSc project is shopping website with some database, with bad functionality and horible design, seen it last year when I did my BSc, seeing this year while finishing MSc)

So you thinking in Java and some networking, what about bluetooth ad-hoc network, take scenario there is bad catastrophy that took out mobile network in the are. People need to setup communication, most commont thing on mobile phone beside camera and walkman is bluetooth. Communication through BT is not complex what is challenging is how you gone manage record of available connections, routes to other people, number of hops and how you gone manage trafic?

You're right. I've already made an autonomic robot that had color and object detection to participate in a ball-grabbing contest and I still have a year left on the "HTS" (don't know the English equivalent) I'll upload some vids to youtube if anyone cares.

@ anonymous_cutie:

Anything with robots will probably be approved, because a lot of schools use these robots to get new students. (sort of prestige project). Newcomers will see the robots on a open day and think "Wow, I want to build robots too" and the school has new students (==money).

I like Peter's idea too, quite challenging but very usefull.

You say that you already have a studentmanagment system? So how about doing something with rfid-chips so that they're automatically checked in and out when entering/leaving the building? You could store the data in the existing database and make a program (website) to see which student is checked in and which is not. If you make more sensors (in every classroom for example) you could even see where the students are in the building.
Big brother is watching

@jbennet - and yeah posting for ideas is fine. We just dont like people who want us to do work for them, or ask for ideas after showing no effort. You have shown effort, therefore you will reecieve help.

:: THANK YOU! i thought i'd be one of those people who get berated or worse, won't even get a reply at all.

-i will see about moving this to comp/sci board

:: sorry if i posted this in the wrong forum. i really didn't know which one this would fit into.

@peter_budo :: i'll research more on your suggestion and see what (else) i can do with it. thank you!

@niek_e - Anything with robots will probably be approved, because a lot of schools use these robots to get new students. (sort of prestige project). Newcomers will see the robots on a open day and think "Wow, I want to build robots too" and the school has new students (==money).

:: lol. i think that you are absolutely right! i used to be one of those newcomers. lol

- So how about doing something with rfid-chips so that they're automatically checked in and out when entering/leaving the building? You could store the data in the existing database and make a program (website) to see which student is checked in and which is not. If you make more sensors (in every classroom for example) you could even see where the students are in the building. Big brother is watching

:: actually, our IDs already have chips in them. they aren't really useful. at least we (students) don't think so. anyway, in a university of upwards of probably 20 thousand people, with at least 8 major buildings, wouldn't your idea be very expensive, with the sensors and such? and i don't really see much use in knowing if a student is checked in since most teachers don't really care whether you come to class or not. and if i'm like looking for a friend or something, he'd just be a text message away.

that's just how i understand your idea. if i didn't get what you were trying to say, could you please explain it further? but still, thank you for replying and giving your suggestion. it's much appreciated

It might not be worth the trouble for your school, but how about a prison? Give each prisoner a necklace (or something) and you could see where everybody is. You would need fewer securityguards and their work would be saver. Is it still costly, or is it worth the money? You could make a demo-project in school with just a few sensors etc. Your project would be just to prove the concept.

Anyway, it's just an idea, so if you don't think it's something for you, trow it in the garbage. No hard feelings

Usually its the RFID sensors that cost a lot, the tags are not the problem.

You can try something like theft prevention if you are interested in RFID, take for example a library. Attach tag to every book in the library and have a sensor at each entrance, if someone tries to steal a book by simply walking out with it an alarm rings. Otherwise the student has to issue a book that will reprogram the tag.

they actually have that in my college