Professors Larry Howell, Brian Jensen, and Spencer Magleby were invited presenters at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) / Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Workshop on “Compliant Mechanisms in Aerospace System Design” held adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, March 26th and 27th. (Read Full Article)
Dr. Greg Agnes and Dr. Brian Trease from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California visited Brigham Young University to discuss the use of compliant mechanisms in space with the BYU CMR lab. (Read Full Article)
Two visiting scholars from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands recently visited BYU to conduct research on compliant mechanisms with the CMR. Nima Tolou and Pieter Pluimers began their study in September 2011 and returned in January 2012 and March 2012, respectively. Their research involved ground-breaking work in statically balanced compliant mechanisms, including microsystems fabricated using a carbon nanotube fabrication process. (Read Full Article)
Dr. Robert J. Lang visited the BYU Compliant Mechanisms Research Group (CMR) on November 1 to discuss possible research collaboration in origami-inspired compliant mechanism design. He also presented as part of the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Seminar Lectures, where he displayed a mathematical approach to origami. (Read Full Article)
Student teams from BYU won several awards at the ASME Mechanisms & Robotics Conference in Washington, D.C., August 28-31, 2011. Graduate students Sam Wilding and Holly Greenberg received 1st place in the Graduate Division of the 2011 ASME International Student Mechanisms Design competition, and Greg Teichert won 2nd place. A team of undergraduates received 2nd place in the Undergraduate Division of the same contest. Wilding and Greenberg received 1st place in the Graduate Division for their paper, “The Lens LiftTM: A Novel Lamina Emergent Mechanism.” The paper presented a compliant mechanism that integrates into disposable contact lens packages. It allows easier access to the lens by lifting the lens out of the blister pack, so that the user only has to touch the lens once and it is ready to be put in the eye. “I have enjoyed working with such talented and motivated students,” commented Dr. Larry Howell, faculty advisor to Wilding and Greenberg. “Holly and Sam represented BYU very well in the quality of their work and their performance in the contest.” Dr. Spencer Magleby also advised the team. Greg Teichert won 2nd place in the Graduate Division for his paper, “Single-Degree-of-Freedom Spatial Mechanisms for Cell Restraint.” Dr. Brian Jensen was his faculty advisor. “The project was a microelectromechanical (MEMS) system that can be used to capture and hold a cell in place while it is being injected with DNA,” said Teichert. “It was designed to be easy to use but also provide a high level of support to the cell.” Perhaps the most innovative part of the project was creating a new type of spatial kinematic mechanism, which he used in the cell restraint device. Teichert was able to have the mechanism fabricated, and it was tested using mouse egg cells (about 80 microns in diameter) here at BYU. (Read Full Article)
Three BYU Mechanical Engineering graduate students won first and second place in the 5th Annual Micro- and Nano-Systems Conference Photo Contest held as part of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Washington, D.C. August 28-31, 2011. Greg Teichert and Greg Holst won first place for their entry “Spatial MEMS Mechanism for Cell Restraint,” and Walter Fazio won second place for his entry “Carbon-Infiltrated Carbon Nanotube Cell Restraint Device.” (Read Full Article)
