{"title":"Model Driven Robot Simulation: RoboCell","authors":"K. Rawat, G. Massiha","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38508","url":null,"abstract":"Robotics courses are offered in the College of Engineering at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Subjects such as robot applications, end of arm tooling, safety, and analysis of robot specifications are covered in these courses. These robotics fields have benefited considerably in the last three decades from the advancement of computer science, as advanced software tools were developed to study the working of robots. As robots have begun to proliferate in industry, so have the demands on the level of sophistication of their performance. Careful attention to safety planning has been required because; these industrial tools present many of the same hazards as conventional machine tools. Thus, engineers working in the areas of robotics must have a well-structured understanding of robotic systems. Model driven simulation is a valuable tool for helping in this aspect. RoboCell simulation software is one such model driven simulation program. Simulation is a powerful tool, but robotics research should be conducted on robots. In this paper we provide a brief approach to learning technical aspects of industrial robots through use of an educational robot and RoboCell simulation software. The educational hardware and software together emulate manufacturing environments. These aid engineers to rapidly test and refine new behaviors before running them on the actual robotic system.","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"1998 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125710918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Formation of Required Typeness InSb By Crystal Ion Slicing","authors":"Damien Johnson, P. Bhattacharya","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38455","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"47-48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133690595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Justin Hussey, T. Summers, Tyler Smith, A. Mazzoleni
{"title":"Development of a Tethered Satellite System Experiment for Creating Artificial Gravity aboard NASA’s KC-135","authors":"Justin Hussey, T. Summers, Tyler Smith, A. Mazzoleni","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38458","url":null,"abstract":"The Human Exploration and Development of Space will involve prolonged exposure in humans to a microgravity environment; this can lead to significant loss of bone and muscle mass, particularly for missions requiring travel times of several months or more, such as on a trip to Mars. One possible remedy for this situation is to use a spent booster as a “counter-weight” and tether it to the crew cabin for the purpose of spinning-up the counter-weight/cabin system about its common center of mass like a dumbbell, hence generating artificial gravity for the crew during long duration missions. However, much needs to be learned about the dynamics and stability of such tethered systems before they can become flight possibilities. This paper concerns a pending investigation of the dynamics involved in “spinning-up” such a system in a microgravity environment. The “spinning-up” of the system involves applying a small initial angular velocity to the tethered satellite system and then reeling in a portion of the tether length that separates the masses. Since angular momentum is conserved, and the mass moment of inertia has effectively decreased due to the shortened tether length, the angular velocity of the system will increase (this phenomenon can be seen in the increase in spin-speed that ice skaters experience as they bring their arms in close to their bodies). The “spinning-up” of a tethered satellite system is a critical period of operation, as the system is moving from a static environment to a dynamic one. Multiple digital video cameras and accelerometers will be used to record data during the spin-up process. This research proposes that the “spinning-up” of a tethered satellite can be tested and investigated aboard NASA’s KC-135 as it generates its microgravity environment. Testing in a reduced gravity environment is crucial to obtaining the required data necessary for developing a larger, more complex tethered system. We believe that typical surface simulations and experimentation do not create an accurate environment for the study of tether","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"92 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133569401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Workshops for Enhancing Implementation of the Field of Study Curriculum for Engineering Education in Texas","authors":"R. L. Wells, Alan Morris, C. Hailey","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38520","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38520","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114142917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"It May Be Engineering Design, but Is It Design?","authors":"R. Bannerot","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38468","url":null,"abstract":"Houston Abstract Creative design is not taught in most engineering academic programs. The engineering design textbooks (and presumably engineering design classes) do a good job presenting analytical schemes for the systematic evaluation of design and linear design processes --both of which are necessary and appropriate for much of engineering design -- but they really have little to say about the creative, parallel processing necessary for design. It is suggested that engineering students and design faculty would benefit greatly from a good dose of creative design as practiced by our colleagues in the Arts. The paper will provide evidence of how two aspects of “creativity” are missing from most engineering","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132371757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Three-Dimensional Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Structures Assembled from Polysilicon Surface Micromachined Elements Containing Continuous Hinges and Microrivets","authors":"E. Kolesar, M. Ruff","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38510","url":null,"abstract":"A new polysilicon surface micromachining technique for fabricating and assembling three-dimensional MEMS structures has been developed. Single-layer polysilicon elements and laminated polysilicon panels incorporating trapped-glass reinforcement ribs have been successfully fabricated on a silicon substrate with robust and continuous hinges that facilitate out-of-plane rotation and assembly. To realize a stable three-dimensional structure, one of the device’s elevatable panel components is terminated with an array of open windows, and the mating rotatable element has a matched set of protruding microrivets with flexible barbs that readily flex to facilitate their joining and assembly. Because the microrivet barb tip-to-barb tip separation is larger than the opening in the mating window, the barbs flex inward as they pass through the open window and then expand to their original shape upon exiting the window, resulting in a permanently latched joint and a three-dimensional structure. A mechanical gripper has been developed with this technology that will be used to interface with and change the focal point of a polymeric lens that has the potential for human implant. The seamless integration of conventional microelectronics with three-dimensional, microdynamic, mechanical components is one of the prominent goals of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Conventional microelectronic integrated circuit (IC) processing is predominantly a two-dimensional fabrication technique. On the other hand, many MEMS microsensor and microactuator applications require three-dimensional components. Since MEMS technology is an extension of IC processing, the primary challenge is to realize mechanical components with physically large and high-resolution features in all three dimensions. Most of the common IC fabrication processes either sacrifice planar resolution The authors have adapted this popular MEMS fabrication technology to produce robust, three-dimensional structures whose components are fabricated as planar entities. The planar entities are then rotated out of the plane of the silicon substrate on integrally fabricated hinges, whereby they are assembled and joined using arrays of open windows and microrivets. The resulting three-dimensional structures not only manifest IC quality resolution in both the planar and vertical dimensions, but now the vertical feature sizes that are realizable span from 1 µm to nearly a millimeter. The fabrication process for producing three-dimensional structures from microhinged and latachable polysilicon panels was developed using the popular Multi-User Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Process (MUMPs) foundry and material system. It is reasonable to project that the continuous microhinge concept could also be adapted to elements not attached to the substrate, thus affording an even higher degree of freedom for realizing more complex three-dimensional MEMS structure. microsensors, micromachining to multi-chip packa","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"128 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133196899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
D. Waters, A. Mora, Lizette Zounon, J. C. Matheney Tiernan
{"title":"Improving Undergraduate Retention through Tailored Use of the Infinity ProjectS","authors":"D. Waters, A. Mora, Lizette Zounon, J. C. Matheney Tiernan","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38519","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38519","url":null,"abstract":"This paper addresses the issue of using the proven Infinity ProjectSM program as a foundation to build computer science and engineering students’ knowledge of software as well as hardware and to create an expectation of what they may be able to achieve in the future. The Infinity Project is a nationally recognized partnership between leading research universities, industry, government, and educators that has created innovative educational approaches to modern engineering that are both fundamental and fun. The development of the Infinity Project material was spearheaded by the Electrical Engineering (EE) faculty at SMU along with engineers at Texas Instruments (TI), makers of the DSP components used in the Infinity VAB kit, and Hyperception, Inc., the software developers for the VAB software to control the DSP. The Infinity Project is designed around hands-on experiments that demonstrate the basic concepts of electrical engineering. Each experiment utilizes real-time DSP hardware in the Infinity Technology Kit controlled with the Visual Application Builder (VABTM) component-based DSP software that provides a graphical interface and a methodology of developing DSP systems by simply connecting functional block components together with point-and-click methods. This paper focuses on how the Computer Science and Engineering Department (CSE) at UTA is tailoring the use of the Infinity Project to the needs of a computer science audience. In particular, we will discuss how CSE@UTA will use the structure of the Infinity Project to not only let incoming freshmen CSE majors explore the interesting and hands-on engineering applications made possible by the use of the DSP and other components but to also integrate these activities with explorations of programming.","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130062734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Design of an Isolated and Controlled Precision System for Determination of Thermal and Moisture Transmission Properties","authors":"J. Keska, Russel R. Life","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38456","url":null,"abstract":"Lafayette Abstract In the analysis of thermal energy losses for a building, three components of thermal energy transfer need to be considered. These components are thermal energy conduction, convection, and radiation. The conduction component is influence by gradient of temperature in the exterior surfaces, the thermal conductivity, the effective area of exterior surface, and differences in air humidity between internal and external environment. The radiation components depend on a temperature difference, the geometry and or that of the building, and the thermal characteristics of the material used of the building. Thermal energy that is emitted to the sky from the exterior surface is considered to be a radiative component. Since radiation is a surface phenomenon, both the surface are and the surface property (emissivity) of the exterior wall material must be obtained for each exterior component of the building. After radiative heat energy losses of all components are found, they are summarized to receive the total thermal energy loss for radiation in the the effects of radiation through electromagnetic spectrum (specifically visible, infrared, and ultraviolet corresponding standard material. The ability to determine moisture content introduced through artificial means inside a contained system to maintain a test is also part of this process. This system’s parameters are determined by a variety of factors including size of test specimen and range of sources light and of this is to produce a reliable testing apparatus that corresponds to standard testing procedures for thermal transmission and moisture content properties of an and a","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129580003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Summer Workshop Experiences for Middle School Teachers and Students","authors":"R. Bittle, R. Weis, B. Bittle, David R. Yale","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38475","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38475","url":null,"abstract":"For the past three summers we have presented two one-week workshops. One entitled Introduction to Fabrication has been offered to middle and high school students, while the other entitled Introduction to Energy Conversion and Distribution has been offered to middle school science teachers. This paper presents a summary of the experience and lessons learned. The goal of the fabrication workshop is for the students to develop an awareness of the processes involved with the creation of objects they encounter daily. There are mechanical and electrical segments of the workshop. During the mechanical segment the students are introduced to a small milling machine and lathe that are capable of machining a variety of materials ranging from plastics to mild steels. Emphasis is placed on safety and proper machining techniques. Through a variety of machining projects, the students also learn how to drill and tap a hole, how to make accurate measurements using calipers and a micrometer, and gain an appreciation for the costs associated with maintaining high tolerances on machined parts. Students also have the opportunity to spend time in a professional machine shop and observe numerically controlled machines in operation. During the electrical segment the students use a breadboard to build a small electronic circuit, and then transfer it to a printed circuit board of their own design. In the process the students learn about simple electronic circuits, proper soldering techniques, pc board layout and fabrication. On the last day of the workshop we take the group on a field trip to a local industry site at which a variety of fabrication and productions methods are observed. The goal of the energy conversions workshop is to provide science teachers an opportunity to develop an understanding of energy conversion and power distribution systems. During morning sessions, materials covering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and electro-mechanical machines are presented and discussed. Afternoon sessions in the laboratory are used to reinforce the morning topics and typically generate new questions for explorations. During the past two summers, a complete energy conversion system consisting of a water wheel and a small generator has been built and the performance characterized. A special emphasis is made on characterizing system losses.","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132413767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Applications Oriented Gas Turbine Laboratory Experience","authors":"K. V. Van Treuren","doi":"10.18260/1-2-620-38518","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2-620-38518","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":355306,"journal":{"name":"2003 GSW Proceedings","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114857300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}