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Portland's pachyderms may soon stay trimmer and fitter, thanks to student innovators in Portland State University's (PSU) mechanical engineering program.

The Mechanical Engineering Department's elephant-enrichment team, from left, Seth Hindman, Vitaliy Kuzmenko, James Berokoff and Kevin Bibler with a few of their new friends at the Oregon Zoo.

An official at the Oregon Zoo says the students' Senior Capstone project, completed spring term 2003, is nationally significant because of its potential to improve the lives of animals in captivity. "I believe this will be a great thing for the elephants," adds Gilbert Gomez, assistant zoological curator.

The goal of the engineering exercise was to devise a way for the zoo's bull Asian elephants to increase the amount of exercise they get in their compound at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. Based on the successful testing of a prototype for the environmental enrichment program, the innovation could increase the elephants' exercise routine by 80 percent, Gomez says.

The work was completed in June as part of the Senior Capstone program, a graduation requirement in PSU's College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS). Capstone projects give students a chance to solve real-world engineering challenges, pairing seniors with community organizations or businesses. The team of PSU undergraduates working with the elephant trainers at the Oregon Zoo included James Berokoff, Kevin Bibler, Seth Hindman and Vitaliy Kuzmenko.

After careful analysis, the team developed a simple reward-based system called the Food Puzzle. When an elephant approaches a sensor in the exercise pen, a second sensor located elsewhere in the pen emits a sound and a light flashes. Once trained, the bulls will be drawn to other sensors, the last triggering a chute to drop a bale of hay. To keep it challenging, a computer program will vary the sequence of how the sensors work.

The zoo is now completing the wiring for the enrichment system, which will be in operation by the end of the year. Once complete, the bulls will get the same amount of food each night as they did before, but they will get more exercise in the process, Gomez says.

"These students did a great job," Gomez says. "We're really pleased with the outcome," he adds, suggesting the possibility of a project with PSU in the coming year to enrich the lives of marine mammals at the zoo, such as polar bears. "There is a lot of potential here for other enrichment devices."

"One of the main benefits of the Elephant Environmental Enrichment project is that it is so different from anything that we have been exposed to in the past and therefore has necessitated our collaboration with the Oregon Zoo staff in understanding the elephants, their needs and capabilities," says project team member Seth Hindman.

"Very few engineering problems have known outcomes at the beginning, but the process of defining problems through a needs analysis, market research and team intellectual collaboration is an invaluable component of the skill set that graduating engineers need to possess," adds Hindman.

Links:

Read more about CECS Senior Capstone projects: www.pdx.eduhttp://www.pdx.edu/cecs/hands-learning

Learn more about the challenges of the elephant enrichment exercise: www.vkuzy.net/elephant/

Read the students' Final Report: www.vkuzy.net/elephant/reports.htm

See photos of the students: www.vkuzy.net/elephant/pics/photogallery/Pics%20023.JPG

Download video of elephant training at the Oregon Zoo (Note: Not part of the PSU project): www.zooregon.org/Gallery/video.htm

Contact: College of Engineering and Computer Science, 503-725-4631