News and Events

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A UWindsor researcher is applying game elements to life in social isolation as a way of combating COVID-19.

Eunsik Kim, an engineering professor who specializes in gamification, is looking into ways of offering virtual rewards for things like social distancing, self-isolation, fitness, or even handwashing during the pandemic.

“We will use game elements in a non-game context to encourage people to maintain healthy practices, not just for entertainment, but to educate people,” Dr. Kim said.

“In addition, by connecting with others through gamification the loneliness epidemic associated with social distancing, quarantine, and isolation can be allayed.”

Gamification is the application of typical elements of game-playing — competition, scoring, and rules of play — to encourage participation. Gamification encourages participants to engage in desired behaviours by capitalizing on the human psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.

As I sit isolated in my home office running the business of the Faculty remotely, I would like to reflect on the events of the past few weeks and what lies ahead. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally touched all facets of daily lives. The world’s experience with COVID-19 is new and unprecedented in every way. The pandemic is rapidly evolving; there is a great deal of uncertainties associated with it and all around the globe, the response has been to pivot quickly and face a new set of challenges on a daily basis. 

I must say, I am so proud of UWindsor and the Faculty of Engineering community, which — in the face of monumental adversity and daunting challenges — have come together and stepped up to the plate! I am impressed and thankful to our students who have endured this rapidly changing set of circumstances with maturity, poise and calmness. This calamity has shown me how collaborative, resilient and compassionate the UWindsor community really is and that makes me proud to be a member of this tight-knit community.

Engineers are problem solvers and societal challenges provide them with opportunities to innovate and respond to people’s needs. A number of our Faculty and students have been working (and in certain cases with industrial partners), to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) or portable ventilators to our community health care workers or hospitals and I thank them for their efforts.

Tucked away in the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation is a 3D print shop that has been quietly expanding its fleet.

In just a week, Parker Drouillard, the owner of Pep Corporation, has doubled the number of his self-made 3D printers to assist in the global fight against the spread of COVID-19.

“We normally print automotive parts, but our clients, mostly automotive manufacturers, are being asked to retool,” Drouillard says from his shop floor filled with the whirring sound of nearly 30 printers hard at work.

“As a result, quite of a few our partners have reached out to us.”

The fourth-year computer science student has been approached by clients and businesses from Windsor to Toronto that need parts to assemble ventilators and face shields. He’s now preparing for large orders that can take anywhere from 20 minutes to four hours to produce.

Drouillard has also joined forces with community partners WEtech-Alliance, EPICentre UWindsor, and Windsor-Essex FIRST to donate 500 face shields to essential workers across Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent. He is producing the plastic components that hold the face shield in place based on a design created by Kelcom 3D Division.

A national competition has recognized the skills of four University of Windsor first-year students.

Connor Ajersch, John Thibert, Mathew Dunne, and Frank Guarasci placed third in the Canadian Engineering Competition for their design of a crop duster that travels on a zipline and drops various liquids onto specific plots along its path. The team had eight hours to build a prototype out of everyday household materials.

“The biggest challenge in making the crop duster was figuring out the timing for when we had to drop off the liquids on the zipline,” says Ajersch. “This was challenging for us as we weren't allowed to use any electronics and had to figure out how to mechanically time the dropping of the liquid.”