Going beyond the limits of the classroom and laboratories, introducing students to the complexities presented by different organizations in the market, integrating different areas of knowledge, developing theoretical and technical skills and working as a team are some of the main characteristics developed in Insper’s engineering programs. Started in 2018, the Final Engineering Project (PFE) is the 8th semester course of the undergraduate program that allows students to apply what was learned throughout the programs to contribute to the development of innovative solutions to real challenges brought by partner companies of Insper.

 

At the PFE closing event for the first semester of 2024, which took place on Monday, June 10, students of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronic Engineering and  Computer Engineering presented 20 innovation projects developed for 15 companies that seek Insper as a partner for the development of applied projects with great technological impact.

 

“This is a model adopted by universities in several countries for engineering students and other areas of study, and it has been very successful abroad. When Insper’s engineering programs were designed, we decided that this should also be done here”, explains Professor Luciano Soares, PFE coordinator. “And we have to deal with a very positive issue, because the companies that already participate in the program always send new projects every semester, which indicates that our students are doing very well.”

 

The edition for the first semester of 2024 was attended by 71 Insper students. The projects were very diverse in nature, such as the development of a natural language processing algorithm for health data, by Computer Engineering students, the creation of a semi-autonomous submersible vehicle, or the robot fish by Mechatronic Engineering students, and the adaptation of additive manufacturing equipment for food extrusion, by Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering students. Technology projects developed with artificial intelligence were also presented, such as the use of quantum computing applied to optimize the financial market.

 

“Our PFE was developed for Bradesco bank, which asked for a solution on how to bring liquidity to its customers who have digital assets. We created a smart loan contract with digital assets as collateral that accepts bitcoin, theter and federal government bonds, allowing clients to take out loans using digital assets as collateral with lower interest rates”, says Pedro Dannecker, who participated in the project with Gabriel Onishi, Rodrigo Coelho and Willian Lee, Computer Engineering students. “We met every two weeks with our mentor and expert in blockchain because we had little knowledge about this area, and that really helped us make weekly deliveries”, says Gabriel.

 

The group of Amanda Colucci and Luísa Kyrillos, from Mechanical Engineering, and Isabella Oliveira and Gustavo Carvalho, from Mechatronic Engineering, developed a conceptual 3D printer to be used in restaurants, presenting a device that was easy to use, suitable for a kitchen environment and which had an attractive design. “It was a very rewarding experience because we had very close contact with the company BioEdTech, not to mention the technical mentoring we received from one of the organization’s members, which made us learn a lot on a daily basis”, says Isabella. “We could count on Insper’s infrastructure and laboratory technicians, who helped us a lot in developing the project and achieving the objective established by us and the company”, says Amanda.

 

The challenge proposed by A. C. Camargo Cancer Center to the group of Gabriel Alves, Keiya Nishio, Ricardo Rodrigues Filho and Sarah da Costa, from Computer Engineering, was to develop a tool for predicting the risk of hereditary cancer in hospital patients. “Our project was to create an onco-genetic screescning tool using AI. Based on the patient’s information, a machine learning model can predict, through the results of genetic tests, whether the patient has a high or low probability of having cancer,” says Gabriel.

 

The group of João Pedro Oliveira, Lucas Florentino and Thomas Bekhor, from Mechanical Engineering, produced a system for optimizing the sales processes of digital transformation solutions for Rockwell Automation, incorporating IIot (Industrial Internet of Things) features, machine learning and analytics. “We were in constant contact with the company and this connection with our group was essential for the development of the project”, says Lucas.

The impact on Insper partner companies

 

The Final Engineering Project is a program integrated into the Paulo Cunha Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub, whose mission is to solve companies’ real problems, bringing students closer to the school’s partner institutions. “At the Innovation Hub, we develop innovation projects with companies, encourage entrepreneurship and carry out academic projects, like these of the PFE”, says Rodrigo Amantea, head of the Hub.

 

For Daniel Dystyler, Senior Delivery Manager at Dell, the partnership with Insper, signed more than five years ago, has been very promising. “The PFE is a very assertive program. We develop a workforce in a very cool way. We get to know the students during the six months of the project and see how focused they are on solving problems. My team at the company keeps an eye on them to see how they speak, produce, work as a team and how they present their work. We regret not being able to hire all of them at the speed we would like to, but the objective is to train competent professionals not only for Dell, but for our customers and the market as well.”

 

For Luciana Romani, a researcher at Embrapa, there are a series of challenges in the work she conducts at the Science Center for Development in Digital Agriculture, but the help she has received through the partnership with Insper has been key. “Working with Insper has been motivating. The students are very committed, organized and deal with situations with great professionalism. The robot fish project, which simulates a submarine that needs to navigate and monitor tanks full of fish, has a very complex artificial intelligence component, which is essential nowadays. And Insper students are able to present these solutions to us in a very interesting way.”

 

Paulo Rocha, from Rockwell Automation, states that artificial intelligence and the use of machine learning techniques are the biggest trends in the industry. The partnership with Insper has been of great importance, as the students’ training is multidisciplinary. “For us, this partnership makes perfect sense. It was very interesting to discover that Insper made students develop the project, and also calculate the return on investment of it. It was a very interesting experience to see how they learned not only to organize and develop the project, but to face challenges as well. The project they created – a system for developing machine learning in different industrial processes – is already being used. This helps us sell to chemical and steel industries, as the students created a system that helped us accelerate the entire process.”

 

Certified projects

 

During the event, the projects best evaluated by supervisors and mentors were distinguished and received certification from the company Falconi Consultores de Resultados, which validates and recognizes  the technical and professional rigor of solutions delivered to companies.

 

“Since 2018, when we started the partnership with Insper, it has been an incredible learning experience and a unique opportunity to follow these outstanding projects when it comes to producing knowledge and generating ideas to solve real problems. I was able to witness different projects that will change the reality of our society in the near future, from work that will increase life expectancy to how to unlock funds to enhance credit capacity for agribusiness”, says Flavio Souto Boan, Senior Partner at Falconi.

 

For André Chaves, Managing Partner at Falconi, solving problems faced by society is what makes  PFE different. “It all starts with real problems. We may be fascinated by methods or technology, but what matters is whether this passion is being used to solve something. Taking knowledge from classrooms, books, spreadsheets, and bringing it to the real world is what generates a genuine and lasting impact.”

Click here to access the photo gallery of the event

Learn more about this semester’s projects:

 

Development of a natural language processing algorithm for health data

Felipe Banzato Pinto de Lemos [Computer Engineering]

João Victor Pazotti Silva [Computer Engineering]

Ykaro de Sousa Andrade [Computer Engineering]

Organization: A. C. Camargo

 

AI-modeled onco-genetic screening

Gabriel de Araujo Alves [Computer Engineering]
Keiya Nishio [Computer Engineering]
Ricardo Mourão Rodrigues Filho [Computer Engineering]
Sarah Azevedo Pimenta da Costa [Computer Engineering]

Organization: A.C. Camargo

 

Automated system for counting packs of compresses in the abdominal and thoracic surgery process

Alice Azevedo Longman [Mechanical Engineering]

Isabella Correa Fuhrken [Mechatronic Engineering]

Lourenco Azevedo de Paula [Mechanical Engineering]

Organization: A. C. Camargo

 

Adaptation of additive manufacturing equipment for paste extrusion

Amanda Macedo Colucci [Mechanical Engineering]
Gustavo Pinheiro de Carvalho [Mechanical Engineering]
Isabella Burmaian Vasconcellos de Oliveira [Mechatronic Engineering]
Luísa Manzig Kyrillos [Mechanical Engineering]

Organization: BioEdTech

 

DeFi

Gabriel Hideki Stanzani Onishi [Computer Engineering]
Pedro Santos Rocha von Dannecker [Computer Engineering]
Rodrigo Guimarães Coelho [Computer Engineering]
Willian Kenzo Asanuma Lee [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Bradesco

 

Quantum Computing Applied to Financial Market Optimization Problems

Felipe Schiavinato Borges Souza [Computer Engineering]
Matheus Silva Melo de Oliveira [Computer Engineering]
Nívea de Abreu Dantas Lima [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Bradesco

 

Proposing a tool to select materials and analyze circularity in packaging

Celina Vieira de Melo [Mechanical Engineering]
Gabriel Salvator Benatar [Mechatronic Engineering]
Lister Ogusuku Ribeiro [Computer Engineering]
Talissa Gonçalves Albertini [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Braskem

 

Development of RISC-V for Aerospace Use

Giancarlo Vanoni Ruggiero [Computer Engineering]
Luciano Felix Dias [Computer Engineering]
Tiago Vitorino Seixas [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Renato Archer Information Technology Center

 

Cyber Recovery in cyber incidents

Bruno Boldrim Saboya [Computer Engineering]
Esther Gallo Dagir [Computer Engineering]
Paulo Henrique Moreira Falcão [Computer Engineering]
Rodrigo Sennati Mattar [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Dell

 

Cloud classification based on satellite images

Fabrício Neri Lima [Computer Engineering]
Guilherme Fontana Louro [Computer Engineering]
Jean Silas Ferreira Sanandrez [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Dell

 

Interface development and user experience with Rented E-Bikes

Cesar Ezra Ades [Computer Engineering]
Lila Takahashi Hadba [Mechatronic Engineering]
Thiago Shiguero Kawahara [Computer Engineering]
Brian Lee [Electrical and Electronics Engineering] [remote student in partnership with Texas A&M University]
Juan Gomez Vargas [Electrical Engineering] [remote student in partnership with Texas A&M University]

Organization: E-Moving

 

Search of shipwrecked people using drone swarms (part 2)

Joras Custodio Campos de Oliveira [Computer Engineering]
Pedro Andrade [Computer Engineering]
Renato Laffranchi Falcao [Computer Engineering]
Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Embraer

 

Robot Fish – Semi-autonomous submersible vehicle

Andre Rodrigues Versolato [Mechatronic Engineering]
Gustavo Guedes de Camargo [Mechatronic Engineering]
Lucas Gabriel Mocellin Teixeira [Mechatronic Engineering]
Marco Tulio Masselli Rainho Teixeira [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Embrapa

 

UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) for monitoring orchard and forestry plots

Breno Alencar Araújo [Mechatronic Engineering]
Bruno Morales Balkins [Mechatronic Engineering]
Fernando Bichuette Assumpção [Mechatronic Engineering]
Giulia Carolina Martins de Sampaio [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Embrapa

 

Building NPCs for a real-time multiplayer game with Artificial Intelligence

Diogo dos Reis Duarte [Computer Engineering]
Eduardo Araujo Rodrigues da Cunha [Computer Engineering]
Letícia Coêlho Barbosa [Computer Engineering]
Lidia Alves Chagas Domingos [Computer Engineering]

Organization: Fanatee

 

Development of a microcontroller-based syringe pump for organ-on-a-chip

Andressa Silva de Oliveira [Mechatronic Engineering]
Gabriella Kowarick Zullo [Mechatronic Engineering]
Giovanni Augustho Rozatti [Mechatronic Engineering]
Lucca de Paiva Barroso Saraiva [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Fiocruz

 

Backtesting platform development for high-frequency model testing

Jonathan Sutton [Computer Engineering]
Luís Antônio Bordignon de Oliveira [Mechanical Engineering]
Ricardo Israel [Computer Engineering]
Vitor Fortes Giuliano Riccetti [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Legacy Capital

 

Development of a dashboard for real-time student performance data visualization

Arthur Ferreira Carvalho [Computer Engineering]
Natália Queiroz Menezes Carreras [Computer Engineering]
Pedro Osborn Mahfuz [Computer Engineering]

Organization: PrairieLearn

 

Creating Solutions for IIoT and Machine Learning through IT/OT convergence

João Pedro Pereira Silva Marques de Oliveira [Mechatronic Engineering]
Lucas Franco Florentino [Mechatronic Engineering]
Thomas Bekhor [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Rockwell Automation

 

Wear sensing in HDU regulator, paper machine clothing

Carlos Eduardo Abdelmalack Simodo [Mechatronic Engineering]
Guilherme Ricchetti Carvalho [Mechatronic Engineering]
Gustavo Rodrigues Pazemeckas [Mechatronic Engineering]

Organization: Voith Paper