Cadets Showcase Efforts Tied to Army Modernization

WEST POINT, N.Y. – On May 2, more than 400 capstone projects will be featured at the 20th annual Projects Day highlighting innovative designs linked to Army readiness, modernization and war-fighting capabilities at multiple locations at West Point.

“Projects Day is an opportunity for our cadets, representing West Point’s Social Sciences, Humanities, and STEM departments, to showcase their incredible array of innovative thesis projects, capstone presentations, and partnerships across the Army and Department of Defense enterprises,” said Brig. Gen. Cindy Jebb, Dean of the Academic Board, U.S. Military Academy.

Since May 2000, Projects Day assembles cadets from the academy’s military training and academic departments and students participating from nine colleges and two sister academies. West Point is the only service academy able to showcase talents on such a large scale allowing 800 cadets to demonstrate their academic and military knowledge and skills. Whether individually or as a team, cadets demonstrate their ability to integrate in-depth learning experiences from West Point and through engagement with national and international partnership organizations.

Universities: Arizona State University, Cornell University, George Mason University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Binghamton, University of South Florida, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and University of Wisconsin-Madison

Service Academies: U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Naval Academy

Projects Day enables cadets to engage real world problems and develop the critical thinking skills needed to solve these problems in a fast-changing operational environment. Several projects include:

• Team Hermes developed a system that autonomously carries, dispenses, and initializes multiple unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying a load of up to five pounds. Designed to meet soldiers demands on the spot to provide medical, ammunition and sustainment supplies.
• Tunable Rucksack a frequency optimized rucksack that alleviates impact upon soldier’s joints that is tuned to an individual’s variable gait and pack load. The purpose of this project is to improve comfort, metabolic cost and reduce injury.
• Team Raspberry Pi and Arduino Surveillance Systems constructed and deployed a field-improvised network of cameras and microphones to assist squads and platoons with mobile perimeter security. The system is designed to help with the early detection of hostile forces to protect soldiers during building-clearing missions.
• Project Peregrine developed three types of ammunition in support of the Army’s next generation combat round with increased precision and accuracy of rounds. The team manufactured ammunition to maintain the combat round flight characteristics out to rifle qualification distances with a maximum range within the limits of current training areas. This would allow for training forces in succession without altering range locations.
• Robotic Deployment Device created a test-modular mission payload for the squad mission equipment transport vehicle to deploy a small robot on command. The system would allow for unmanned ground vehicle deployment powered by an agnostic, simple 12-volt connection.

The Army requires leaders who can innovate and adapt concepts, equipment, and training to be ready for the next war. The Army must grow its operational force by reshaping it to be more robust and successful in all domains, along with modernizing it with the best weapons and equipment available. Institutional efforts at the academy provide the Army with the intellectual capital to drive these efforts.

Cadets will be competing for the Scott R. Clark, Class of 1985, Innovation for Soldiers Award to be presented to a cadet project that demonstrates an innovative approach to solving a problem of direct application to the Army. Additionally, cadets will be competing for the Walter W. Hollis Award that recognizes excellence in Operations Research or Systems Analysis.

For a schedule of the day’s events, and more information about Projects Day, visit https://www.westpoint.edu/centers-and-research/projects-day. To download and install the mobile app, visit the Apple app store or Google Play and enter the event code: projectsday to install the West Point branded app.

About West Point

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federal, liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City. It was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering and continues today as the world’s premier leader-development institution, consistently ranked among top colleges in the country. Its mission remains constant— to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the U. S. Army. For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.