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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Nautilus Rov Robot Manipulator, Dana Stefanides, Jenny Huynh, Andrew Stewart, Steven Reimer, Andrew Nguyen, Rebecca Walters, Matt Hayes
Nautilus Rov Robot Manipulator, Dana Stefanides, Jenny Huynh, Andrew Stewart, Steven Reimer, Andrew Nguyen, Rebecca Walters, Matt Hayes
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
Global warming and climate change are prevalent issues in today’s society. As a result, research in the ocean, our world’s biggest ecosystem, is imperative in efforts to protect the environment. Santa Clara University’s Robotic Systems Lab contributes to this field through work and developments on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). An existing ROV system called Nautilus consists of a robot arm, end effector, and storage system in order to collect various types of sediments at a depth of 300 feet. However, the previous system does not meet that requirement. In direct collaboration with researchers within the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, …
Energy Dissipation In A Sand Damper Under Cyclic Loading, Ehab Sabi
Energy Dissipation In A Sand Damper Under Cyclic Loading, Ehab Sabi
Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations
Various seismic and wind engineering designs and retrofit strategies have been in development to meet structures' proper and safe operation during earthquake and wind excitation. One such method is the addition of fluid and particle dampers, such as sand dampers, in an effort to reduce excessive and dangerous displacements of structures. The present study implements the discrete element method (DEM) to assess the performance of a pressurized sand damper (PSD) and characterize the dissipated energy under cyclic loading. The idea of a PSD is to exploit the increase in shearing resistance of sand under external pressure and the associated ability …
Adaptive Robotic Chassis (Arc): Robocrop A Smart Agricultural Robot Toolset, Steven Bucher, Krissy Ikeda, Brooke Broszus, Alejandro Gutierrez, Ariana Low
Adaptive Robotic Chassis (Arc): Robocrop A Smart Agricultural Robot Toolset, Steven Bucher, Krissy Ikeda, Brooke Broszus, Alejandro Gutierrez, Ariana Low
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
RoboCrop is a payload system that attaches to an existing modular drivetrain to support the agriculture industry with their primary challenge of labor shortages. ARC: RoboCrop features three degrees of freedom as an XYZ Cartesian robot and is intended specifically for pruning strawberry flowers. The image bay camera attached to RoboCrop’s frame identifies the strawberry flowers, communicates their XYZ coordinates, and then the Cartesian robot moves to the desired locations. The snipping toolhead is interfaced at the bottom of the Z-stroke and performs the snipping process. RoboCrop has a proven success rate of at least 70% of flowers pruned in …
Marine Robot Deployment And Control System, Nicky Castillo, Nick Ellis, Trent Kelsall, Matt Kiyama
Marine Robot Deployment And Control System, Nicky Castillo, Nick Ellis, Trent Kelsall, Matt Kiyama
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
A full operations package for underwater research, including the mid-sized ROV Nautilus with a distributed control system, a topside graphical user interface (GUI), and a dedicated launch and recovery system (LARS), was developed to increase the operational efficiency of scientific exploration and experimentation missions through Santa Clara University’s (SCU’s) Robotics Systems Laboratory (RSL). Design of the mechanical subsystems on Nautilus added flexibility of usage and protection of components. The new GUI improved pilot control of Nautilus with an added heads-up display and easy access to sensor readouts. The simulated Nautilus altitude control system has an error of ±1% and a …
Project Shearwater Ground Effect Uav, Duncan Clark, Justin Cole, Zachary Karat, Aidan Nickels, Cole Wolfe
Project Shearwater Ground Effect Uav, Duncan Clark, Justin Cole, Zachary Karat, Aidan Nickels, Cole Wolfe
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
The Shearwater unmanned aerial vehicle is a maritime fixed-wing drone that is designed to use ground effect force generated between the aircraft and a body of water to efficiently propel itself near the surface of a body of water. Shearwater features a virtual reality pilot interface and will act as a hybrid underwater vehicle that will eventually be able to operate both above and beneath the ocean’s surface. The Shearwater team developed existing design work to produce major subsystems that culminated in a flyable functioning prototype. An existing airframe was updated with working control surfaces tested in simulation and in …
The Modular Oceanic Autonomous Underwater Vehicle For Novel Actuation, Bryan Gilbertson, John Elstad, Matthew Holmes, Sean Even, Robert Percell, Andrew Kambe, Gregor Limstrom
The Modular Oceanic Autonomous Underwater Vehicle For Novel Actuation, Bryan Gilbertson, John Elstad, Matthew Holmes, Sean Even, Robert Percell, Andrew Kambe, Gregor Limstrom
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
A low-drag, high endurance, and high efficiency Long Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is a desired asset to Santa Clara University to aid future underwater vehicle development efforts. Such an vehicle will demonstrate novel actuation methods and provide the on-campus Robotics Systems Laboratory with a modular prototype to aid research and academic efforts. In this paper, we document the construction of a low cost, modular, demonstration vehicle that satisfies the requirements for high-efficiency operation and modular interfaces. The completed vehicle features standard actuation abilities utilizing low-drag methods that qualify it for shallow water operation. Furthermore, the vehicle demonstrates the feasibility of …
Basil Leaf Automation, Andrew Soong, Chris Nelson, John Goldsberry, Kalle Suzuki, Nikolas Abenoja, Sherene Victor, Simon Liu
Basil Leaf Automation, Andrew Soong, Chris Nelson, John Goldsberry, Kalle Suzuki, Nikolas Abenoja, Sherene Victor, Simon Liu
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
Recent population and wage increases have forced farmers to grow more food without a proportionate increase in work force. Automation is a key factor in reducing cost and increasing efficiency. In this paper, we explore our automation solution that utilizes position manipulation and vision processing to identify, pick up, and drop a leaf into a can. Two stepper motors and a linear actuator drove the three-dimensional actuation. Leaf and can recognition were accomplished through edge detection and machine learning algorithms. Testing proved subsystem-level functionality and proof of concept of a delicate autonomous pick-and-place robot.
Beta: Bioprinting Engineering Technology For Academia, Max Abrams, Jeffrey Barone, Cynthia Le, Jacob Ososke, Franz Plum, Emily Takimoto, Josie Warren
Beta: Bioprinting Engineering Technology For Academia, Max Abrams, Jeffrey Barone, Cynthia Le, Jacob Ososke, Franz Plum, Emily Takimoto, Josie Warren
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
Higher STEM education is a field of growing potential, but too many middle school and high school students are not testing proficiently in STEM subjects. The BETA team worked to improve biology classroom engagement through the development of technologies for high school biology experiments. The BETA project team expanded functionality of an existing product line to allow for better student and teacher user experience and the execution of more interesting experiments. The BETA project’s first goal was to create a modular incubating Box for the high school classroom. This Box, called the BETA Box was designed with a variety of …
Scu Cube, Matt Condino, Andrew Drape, Evan Eberhardt, Cooper Mcdonnell, Brayton Mcknight, Isaac Mcquillen, James Olwell, Laura Tschudy
Scu Cube, Matt Condino, Andrew Drape, Evan Eberhardt, Cooper Mcdonnell, Brayton Mcknight, Isaac Mcquillen, James Olwell, Laura Tschudy
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
Traditional forms of communication such as landlines and cell phones are unreliable during disaster scenarios. It is difficult to coordinate relief efforts in the aftermath of a disaster due to the unavailability of reliable communication methods. The SCUCube is a 3U CubeSat designed to aid disaster relief communications. The satellite has an amateur radio primary payload that can send and receive standardized data packets with compatible radios, and also has an experimental attitude control system secondary payload. The semi-passive attitude control system uses a gravity gradient boom and a reaction wheel to stabilize the orientation of the satellite. In addition, …
Rsl Rover, Patrick Barone, Giovanni Briggs, Aaron Burns, Hesham Naja, Zoe Demertzis
Rsl Rover, Patrick Barone, Giovanni Briggs, Aaron Burns, Hesham Naja, Zoe Demertzis
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
The goal of this project was to design and implement an unmanned vehicle that can assess the air quality and general state of a post-fire environment. To do this, we equipped Santa Clara University's Polaris 6x6 Ranger with appropriate sensors and cameras to determine how safe the environment is for humans to enter. We also used GPS and laser scans to generate a 3D map that operators can use to define certain zones as particularly dangerous. Finally, we incorporated partially-autonomous sensing capabilities that will allow the operator to easily drive the vehicle. The result was a rugged, advanced, and intuitive …
Pcb Prototyping, Kasey Chun, Dylan Hack, Ilja Medan, Michael Rudolf, Ryan Sidley
Pcb Prototyping, Kasey Chun, Dylan Hack, Ilja Medan, Michael Rudolf, Ryan Sidley
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
In today’s world, Printed Circuit Boards, also known as PCBs, are part of our daily lives. However, it is currently difficult for students in university classes or hobbyists to quickly produce custom made PCBs since no system exists where every step in the production process is on one platform. There are four main steps that go into manufacturing a PCB once it is fully designed which are: milling, solder dispensing, component placement, and a reflow process. The goal will be to create various toolheads and place them onto a single platform allowing the user to perform the aforementioned production processes. …
Rsl Autonomous Rover, Cris Madrigal, Jiachi Zhang, Nicholas Peacock, Brogan O'Hara
Rsl Autonomous Rover, Cris Madrigal, Jiachi Zhang, Nicholas Peacock, Brogan O'Hara
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
Autonomous vehicles are useful for a variety of applications such as military, urban, and agricultural environments. This paper discusses adding an autonomous navigation system to an all-terrain vehicle by implementing controllers that interface with its current system, installing sensors on the vehicle for obstacle detection, and developing effective safety mechanisms to prevent injury to others. The result is a vehicle capable of waypoint navigation and obstacle avoidance. Testing the vehicle showed that the LIDAR and the autonomous navigation system were integrated seamlessly, and that the sensor output signals were successfully translated into vehicle commands the existing system uses. This system …
Uavino, Matthew Belesiu, Aaron Chung, Kirby Linvill, Nathan Carlson, Phillip Coyle, Megan Peekema
Uavino, Matthew Belesiu, Aaron Chung, Kirby Linvill, Nathan Carlson, Phillip Coyle, Megan Peekema
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
UAVino is a drone solution that uses aerial imagery to determine the overall plant health and water content of vineyards. In general, the system focuses on automating crop inspection by taking aerial imagery of a vineyard, conducting post-processing, and outputting an easily interpreted map of the vineyard's overall health. The project's key innovation is an auto-docking system that allows the drone to automatically return to its launch point and recharge in order to extend mission duration. Long term, UAVino is envisioned as a multi-year, interdisciplinary project involving both the Santa Clara University Robotics Systems Laboratory and local wineries in order …
Physical Intelligent Sensors, Pavan Bandhil, Sanjeevi Chitikeshi, Ajay Mahajan, Fernando Figueroa
Physical Intelligent Sensors, Pavan Bandhil, Sanjeevi Chitikeshi, Ajay Mahajan, Fernando Figueroa
Dr. Ajay Mahajan
This paper proposes the development of intelligent sensors as part of an integrated systems approach, i.e. one treats the sensors as a complete system with its own sensing hardware (the traditional sensor), A/D converters, processing and storage capabilities, software drivers, self-assessment algorithms, communication protocols and evolutionary methodologies that allow them to get better with time. Under a project being undertaken at the NASA s Stennis Space Center, an integrated framework is being developed for the intelligent monitoring of smart elements. These smart elements can be sensors, actuators or other devices. The immediate application is the monitoring of the rocket test …
A Novel Method To Create Intelligent Sensors With Learning Capabilities, Ajay Mahajan, Fernando Figueroa
A Novel Method To Create Intelligent Sensors With Learning Capabilities, Ajay Mahajan, Fernando Figueroa
Dr. Ajay Mahajan
A formal theory for the development of a generic model of an autonomous sensor is proposed and implemented. An autonomous sensor not only interprets the acquired data in accordance with an embedded expert system knowledge base, but is also capable of using this data to modify and enhance this knowledge base. Hence, the system is capable of learning and thereby improving its performance over time. The main objective of the model is to combine the capabilities of the physical sensor and an expert operator monitoring the sensor in real-time. The system has been successfully tested using various simulated data sets …
Legacy Borehole Project, Maza Brady, Luke Cashman, Erin Hicks, Meghan Richey
Legacy Borehole Project, Maza Brady, Luke Cashman, Erin Hicks, Meghan Richey
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
The Legacy Borehole Project is a three-year effort to design and build a sensor package that will be used to explore the geological and chemical conditions of the ocean floor. Over the course of three years, a mechanical structure and a robotic system will be constructed to lower sensors into previously drilled boreholes. As the team responsible for the development of the first year of this project, we have constructed a prototype sensor package and mock mechanical structure to test a communication interface between the sensors and a graphical user interface. The sensors were tested by lowering the sensor package …
Project Omoverhi : Low-Cost, Neonatal Incubator, Richard Fong, Guillermo Gallardo, William Jeffery, Danny Maeda, Gabriel Romero
Project Omoverhi : Low-Cost, Neonatal Incubator, Richard Fong, Guillermo Gallardo, William Jeffery, Danny Maeda, Gabriel Romero
Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses
Project Omoverhi, since its beginning in 2010-2011, has been focused on creating an incubator that has the capability of operating completely off grid. This year the project has been focused on redesigning the original system to reduce the cost to approximately $1000. In addition to this we have designed and implemented a control system that enables the user to set a desired temperature which can be maintained to within 1 degree Celsius. Before the project is able to be completed further work must be done. The thermal storage system that was initially proposed by the original team still needs to …