Engineering Goes to the Dogs: Meet the Canine Helping UTD Students Clear Project Hurdles

01.19.2023

Alexandra Smith (center), founder and CEO of Canine Innovation, sponsored a team of UTDesign Capstone program students to develop an agility course that can be activated remotely through her company. Her 2-year-old poodle, Wiggle, served as chief beta tester. From left are electrical engineering senior Alexander Wessenberg and teammates who graduated in December: Nguyen Bui BS’22, Patrick Attey BS’22, and Britanny Hernandez BS’22.

Wiggle, a 2-year-old white poodle with a passion for hot dogs and Cheez-Its, is helping six University of Texas at Dallas engineering students develop an automated, treat-dispensing agility course designed to motivate pets to exercise when they’re home alone.

While Wiggle works for treats, her teammates are working for grades in the UTDesign Senior Capstone Program. Wiggle became a part of Team 1519 when Alexandra Smith, founder and CEO of Canine Innovation, sponsored the project and brought her pet as chief beta tester. Smith hopes that the agility course, which can be activated remotely using an app, can give pet owners more opportunities to engage with their furry friends.

During a recent campus visit to demonstrate the agility course, Wiggle stood before two white hurdles outfitted with sensors able to measure the height of her jump and to activate an electronic treat dispenser. As blue lights on the hurdles flashed, Wiggle jumped over the first bar. With encouragement from Smith, the poodle cleared the second hurdle and immediately headed to the treat dispenser.

“Good girl, Wiggle!” cheered Smith, who supplemented the device’s reward with a piece of a hot dog.

The UTD students said their canine teammate is a hard worker who pushed them to excel. Wiggle outsmarted a previous version of the agility course by simply putting her nose over the sensor rather than having to jump for a treat.

Wiggle clears a hurdle in the agility course during a demonstration of the technology at The University of Texas at Dallas. The course is designed to motivate pets to exercise for a reward from an automated treat dispenser.

“The obstacle course was invented with Wiggle in mind,” said Britanny Hernandez BS’22, who graduated in December and served as the team’s electrical and computer engineering leader. “She is a particularly intelligent dog and was able to trick a prototype’s sensors to get a treat. So, we developed a foolproof method so she couldn’t trick the system again.”

Smith said she sponsored the team after a mentor told her about UTDesign, which connects sponsors with student teams from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science to solve real-world problems. Smith also is working with a student marketing team through the Naveen Jindal School of Management’s UTDsolv Capstone Senior Project.

“Being connected to UTD was the most helpful thing ever,” Smith said. “It’s been so amazing working with everyone. They’ve been so helpful. It’s crazy how much the students know.”

Although some teammates graduated in December, Wiggle and others will continue working on the project during the spring semester. The team will be joined by computer science students who will focus on software to collect and analyze data so users can monitor their pets’ activity – work that ensures plenty more treats in Wiggle’s future.

–Kim Horner