Shanghai Jiaotong University recently held an exhibition to show off 251 school projects designed by nearly 1,200 students. The designs are based on the school's engineering, design, and manufacturing courses. Most originated from the students' daily lives.

"Mini Baymax" mood box (Photo/Shanghai Jiaotong University)

"Mini Baymax" cheers you up

Freshman Ren Qibing and his team designed a "mini Baymax" character called the "mood box." It can detect real-time changes in the environment, analyze signals, emit lights, and turn. The "mini Baymax" will pop out of the box and talk to people.

"If the environment is too dark, the box emits orange and yellow lights and Baymax will tell you to turn on the lights to protect your eyes. It will remind people when it is too bright or noisy too," said Ren.

The team relied on emotional psychology and took into account different environments to select the best colors and voices to make people happy in different situations, according to Ren.

The box has also voice recognition and touch. The Baymax will amuse its "master" in a northeast dialect on hearing "Hi, Baymax!" and it will respond by moving when touched. At present, the box can only handle simple conversations. The team will design a new cartoon image and improve the technology in the future, Ren said.

Anti-theft alarm patch (Photo/Shanghai Jiaotong University)

Anti-theft alarm patch

Another team designed an anti-theft alarm patch to protect private items. If someone needs to leave an item out of sight, the patch can be attached. The patch connects with one's smartphone via Bluetooth and a "Warning!" message is sent if somebody tries to steal the item. What's more, the patch will sound an alarm, warning the surrounding people.

The team has carried out a large number of simulations and has analyzed the data to make sure that the device can distinguish real theft from normal movements.

Water-surface cleaning robot (Photo/Shanghai Jiaotong University)

Water-surface cleaning robot

Guo Nanhong's team designed a robot that cleans surface waters. The robot can move in water and bypass obstacles by remote control or route planning. A pump underneath it will suck in floating objects and store them in a net.

It's hard for sanitary workers to collect floating leaves or debris in lakes with their hands, Guo said. The team has tested the robot in a lake at the university. The robot is able to collect small floating objects, such as leaves and plastic bags.

Shanghai Jiaotong University has organized the exhibition for seven years. School teachers and experts from companies will guide teams consisting of four to six students to complete practical projects.