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Crime-solving, hair-raising, (ro)bot kicking activities are just some of what the anticipated 3,000-plus visitors to Simon Fraser University Surrey’s Community Open House will discover on May 28. Here’s just a sample:

Fighting robots
First-year students in Mechatronics Systems Engineering will send their LEGO-NXT robots, guided by ultra-sonic and sonar technology, into the ring to do battle, sumo-wrestling style. The crowd-pleasing bouts with the ‘bots teach students all aspects of MSE.

Cars of the future
MSE researchers have teamed up with Maple Ridge based Future Vehicle Technologies to develop eVaro, part of the new generation of hybrids – it will be featured along with research being developed at SFU Surrey related to energy management and sustainable energy.

Science snapshot
Among demos: physics’ Camera Obscura. It turns an entire room into a pinhole camera and projects an image of the outside onto the wall of a darkened room. Other features include the hair-raising Van de Graaf generator, a bicycle wheel gyroscope and an array of physics ‘toys’. Science will now be more deeply rooted at SFU Surrey with the addition of new labs in Podium 2 – they’ll give first-and second-year science students a place to do both course and lab work.

Clothing that protects
EnVella is a kinetic dress that transforms into a protective ‘envelope,’ triggered when it detects the wearer’s fear or anxiety. Students in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) designed the project and will demo its fan-like response.

Others will showcase Tessella, a project that melds Orgami and light to create unusual lighting features.

Meanwhile Puppetier gives the user a rare out-of-body experience, as simple hand movements control the fingers of a glove – worn by another user.

And books aside, reading comes to life with the Reading Glove, a wearable storytelling system that triggers bits of narration as tangible objects are picked up.

Business savvy

Sanjeet Skooner from SFU’s Young Women in Business will showcase the club and talk about what young women today offer the world of business, and how the students’ networking is paying off.

Business club competition

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) will put their entrepreneurial skills to the test after a respectable showing at a recent national competition. They’re students like Sonam Swarup, named project manager of the year for her work with Banner Bags, a project teaching high school students to turn street banners into reusable bags. Other community-based projects will also be featured.

Tackling cybercrime

Bryce Westlake studies criminal online networking in the International Cybercrime Research Centre, based at SFU Surrey. He and colleague Richard Frank will talk about their latest research. Westlake is also working with the RCMP’s Integrated Child Exploitation Unit to identify child exploitation online, using a web crawler designed by the centre to analyze data.

Crime and the community

Police and communities working together to prevent crime – such partnerships can play an integral role in making communities safer, says Rick Parent, a 30-year veteran of the Delta police force – and an assisant prof in criminology. He’ll talk about his research and his book, Community-Based Strategic Policing in Canada. Parent teaches in the new Police Studies program at SFU Surrey and earlier completed his PhD at SFU on the topic of police use of deadly force.

Transportation, unplugged

A course that focused on Surrey’s transportation needs, offered for the first time last fall, drew rave reviews and ‘graduated’ several city of Surrey staffers.  Designed by SFU City program director and transportation specialist Gordon Price, it’ll be offered again this fall. Price and grads will be on hand to share their experiences and what was learned about transportation in Surrey.

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