Electro-Mechanical Systems Commons^™

Development Of A Compliant Soft Gripper With Embedded Force Sensors, Ayman Abbas, Abdelrahman Said, Tamer Kahlil, Mahmoud Magdy

Mechanical Engineering

Robotic manipulators have the capability to perform repetitive tasks with a level of efficiency and precision that exceeds the capabilities of human operators. Currently, they are commonly found and extensively utilized across various disciplines. However, robotic manipulators have gradually begun to make inroads into fields beyond manufacturing, such as medicine and agriculture. Due to the diverse range of industries utilizing robotic manipulators, the nature of tasks assigned to these devices can often be more intricate and multifaceted than conventional assignments. Hence, conventional mechanical grippers may not always be suitable, prompting a growing need for grippers capable of adapting to effectively …

Design Of Modular Soft Gripper For Harvesting, Mostafa Abdelaziz, Ahmed Reda, Abdulrhman Atef, Mahmoud Magdy

Mechanical Engineering

Soft robotics presents a transformative approach to agricultural automation, addressing the limitations of traditional mechanical systems in handling delicate crops. This paper introduces a modular soft robotic gripper designed for gentle harvesting applications, with a focus on adaptability, precision, and crop safety. The gripper's performance was evaluated through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and experimental testing, targeting its ability to conform to objects of varying shapes, sizes, and fragility. The FEA confirmed the gripper's capability to apply a load based on the gripped crop of the range 0.6 – 0.75 N, sufficient for damage-free harvesting of sensitive produce like strawberries and …

Design And Implementation Of Smart Automation For Sustainable Plastic Recycling With Iot Integration, Mostafa Abdelaziz, Mahmoud Khedr, Amr Bakkar, Yossef Zidan, Abdelrahman Youssef, Mahmoud Magdy

Mechanical Engineering

Plastic pollution poses a critical environmental challenge, infiltrating ecosystems and impacting human health. One innovative solution involves repurposing recycled plastics into interlocking blocks as a sustainable alternative to concrete in construction. However, manual production methods hinder scalability, efficiency, and product consistency while generating material waste. This research addresses these limitations by automating the production process using PLC and IoT technologies. The findings demonstrate that automation significantly enhances production rates, ensures consistent quality, and minimizes waste, thereby improving operational efficiency and environmental sustainability. IoT is integrated to enhance the system's capabilities by providing real-time connectivity and data exchange. The IoT dashboard, …

Pre-Programmable Directional Stiffness In Continuum Robotic Arms: Effects Of Truss Configurations, Mostafa Abdelaziz, Zahy Elgendy, Mahmoud Magdy

Mechanical Engineering

This paper investigates the implementation of trussed designs in modular tendon-driven continuum arms (CAs) to address stiffness and stability limitations while maintaining adaptability. Various truss configurations— Single-Level, Combined-Level, and Alternated trusses—were analyzed using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to evaluate their impact on flexural and axial stiffness under realistic loading conditions. Results demonstrate that truss placement significantly influences performance, with bottom-level trusses improving flexural stiffness by up to 33%, middle-level trusses enhancing axial stiffness by 43%. Further, Combined-Level configurations provide superior overall stiffness, with MiddleBottom trusses achieving a 66.5% improvement in flexural stiffness and a 70.9% increase in axial stiffness, while …

Design And Manufacturing Of Multifunctional Piezoelectric Composites, Huan Zhao

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Piezoelectric materials possess a unique ability to convert mechanical energy into electrical signals and have broad industrial applications. However, monolithic piezoelectric materials such as piezoceramics and piezopolymers often suffer from inherent trade-offs among mechanical strength, elasticity, and durability. Piezoelectric composites, typically consisting of a polymer matrix with ceramic reinforcements, offer a solution by combining the advantages of each constituent. Nevertheless, maintaining stable mechanical performance in high-temperature environments remains a significant challenge as conventional polymer matrices usually experience structural degradation.

In this thesis, a novel piezoelectric composite is developed using a preceramic polymer (PCP) matrix with barium titanate (BTO) inclusions. PCPs …

Design, Manufacturing, And Assembly Of Modular Snake-Like Robotic Arm, Alongside Design And Implementation Of System’S Digital-Twin, Scott Brown

Master's Theses

A unique modular snake-like robotic arm, also referred to as MA\RS – the Modular Arm \ Robotic System - was designed, manufactured, assembled, simulated, and programmed to create a modular robot which could move to a desired end position given the number of links, the position of the end link and the duration of motion. This robotic arm serves as the start of research into a modular space robotic system to be used in low-gravity environments. As such, this project focused on developing the initial design of the robot and its digital twin. The system’s modularity allows for changes to …

Pseudo Gps For Romi, Emmanuel Baez, Owen Guinane, Gabriel Coria, Conor Schott

Mechanical Engineering

The Pseudo-GPS system for Romi robots addresses the need for precise real-time location tracking in Cal Poly's Mechatronics lab. This project, developed by Emmanuel Baez, Gabriel Coria, Owen Guinane, and Conor Schott, under the guidance of instructor Charlie Refvem, provides a proof-of-concept system to enhance the Romi robots' geolocation capabilities for advanced robotic algorithms.

The proposed system uses a Raspberry Pi 4 equipped with a Pi camera module and ArUco markers to track the position and orientation of Romi robots within a lab environment. Custom 3D-printed stands secure markers on the robots, and a designated origin marker defines the coordinate …

Investigation Of Conductive Die-Top Thermal Capacitors During Short Circuit Operation Of Silicon Carbide Devices, Youssef Abotaleb

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices have garnered significant attention in recent years due to their superior thermal and electrical properties compared to traditional silicon devices. However, SiC power devices suffer from severe reliability issues arising from their mechanical properties. This is because the Young's modulus of SiC is about three times larger than that of silicon, which correspondingly raises the mechanical stresses acting on the bonding structure, often leading to device failure under power shock events.

Traditional packaging materials and designs tend to constrain SiC performance, as hot-spot temperature resulting from a power shock is one of the key factors …

An Efficient Computational Frameworks For Design And Analysis Of Metamaterials, Raj Pradip Khawale

All Dissertations

Advancement in additive manufacturing helps in building artificial lattice structures with unique properties that are not available in naturally occurring materials or in continuum structures. Specifically, beam-based lattices are well known for producing lightweight structures with very high strength, auxetic behavior, and energy absorption capabilities. In recent years, numerous research studies have been conducted on generating algorithms and frameworks to obtain unusual properties based on the variation in the cell geometry and material properties. However, the exploration of the full design space is hampered in practice primarily due to restrictions on cell tiling variation. Additionally, the lattices are very intricate, …

Practical Model Of A Labview Controlled Active Magnetic Bearing On A Bently Rotor Kit Validated With Matlab And Msc Adams, Luis Herrera-Delgado

Master's Theses

This thesis aimed to model a rotor supported by an active magnetic bearing (AMB). The magnetic force equation due to a single electromagnet was first derived which served as the basis of AMB modeling. The finalized model utilized Matlab, Simulink, and MSC Adams to simulate a rotor supported by an AMB. Matlab and Simulink were used to model the AMB control system and actuator output. MSC Adams was used to capture the dynamics of a flexible rotor. This model was verified by comparing the model’s simulated vibration to real vibration data measured from a modified Bently Nevada rotor kit equipped …

Hypoxic Incubator: Improving Robustness/Reliability And Demonstrating Physiological Efficacy, Damon Dennis Tan

Master's Theses

The Microphysiological Systems Laboratory aims to develop colorectal cancer tumor models under a hypoxic environment to assess model response to pharmaceutical compounds in vitro. To perform relevant studies, researchers have attempted to use different hypoxic inducing strategies such as a nitrogen pod and hypoxic incubator to recreate in vivo physiological responses to hypoxia. However, studies would be interrupted due to incubator functionality failure. To ensure successful and physiologically relevant studies, I improved and verified the robustness and reliability of a hypoxic incubator previously designed and manufactured in the lab. Through the testing and iterating design processes, I engineered and implemented …

3d Printed Microfluidic Fabrication Methodology, Characterization, Mechanical Design, And Applications In Electrostatic Artificial Muscles And Benthic Microbial Fuel Cells, Terak B. Hornik

Master's Theses

The fabrication of microfluidic devices often requires specialized methods. The development of these methods requires careful characterization and understanding of the processes involved. Using primarily PolyJet 3D printing technology, microfluidics offers a wide scope of applications such as microfluidic benthic microbial fuel cells (MBMFCs) and electrostatic artificial muscles. MBMFCs benefit from the confinement of the microbes resulting in close proximity between the electrode and the organisms. Using a modular design called the Sponge, assembly and upscaling is possible. Electrostatic artificial muscles benefit from a microfluidic approach due to the non-linearity of electrostatic attraction creating disproportionate benefits when miniaturized. When designed …

Analysis Of Shock Absorption By Spring-Assisted Crutch Tips, Noah Hirschegger, Daegan Caime, Mohamed Atta

Senior Theses

Angel Consulting was originally created to address the problem of excessive wear and tear on the joints of individuals who use crutches for long periods of time. This company has sought to alleviate these issues with a proprietary spring-assisted crutch tip, which reduces the impact of crutch use and will hopefully be able to assist people in alleviating joint damage and discomfort. The team's main purpose is to determine an optimal metric for both marketability and effectiveness and to test the prototype design to ensure the validity of assistance for people who require chronic crutch use. To do this, we …

Design And Implementation Of An Inverted Short Baseline Acoustic Positioning System, Jakob Frabosilio

Master's Theses

This document details the design, implementation, testing, and analysis of an inverted short baseline acoustic positioning system. The system presented here is an above-water, air-based prototype for an underwater acoustic positioning system; it is designed to determine the position of remotely-operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in the global frame using a method that does not drift over time.

A ground-truth positioning system is constructed using a stacked hexapod platform actuator, which mimics the motion of an AUV and provides the true position of an ultrasonic microphone array. An ultrasonic transmitter sends a pulse of sound towards …

Capacitive Sensors With Ultra-Small Capacitance For Smart Measurement And Control Systems, Rustam Baratov, Farrux Jabbor O'G'Li Ko'charov

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

This article discusses methods of low capacitance measurement of capacitive sensors. The results of the study of the amplitude-frequency (AF) and phase-frequency (PF) response of measurement circuits of capacitive sensors for low capacitances measurement, consisting of RC - differentiating elements are presented. The input and output parameters of the differentiating circuit and the complex transfer function are analyzed. The research results show that low capacitances measurement by measuring the rectangular pulses duration is the most effective measurement method.

Assessing The Importance Of Air-Decking Blasting In Controlling Bigv At An Open Pit Gold Mine In Tanzania Using Ann Model, Karim R. Baruti

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Air-decking blasting technique is used to control blast induced ground vibration (BIGV) in several mines including open-pit gold mines located in Tanzania. While the importance of air-deck to control BIGV is practically evident, theoretical models such as BIGV prediction models cannot be used to assess the importance of air-decking. The main objective of this study was to assess the importance of the air-decking blasting technique to control BIGV using the artificial neural network (ANN)Model. To achieve this objective, ANNs were modeled and trained to learn the pattern of data using Multilayer Perception with Back Propagation to predict BIGV. The main …

A Case Study On Optimizing Industrial Air Conditioning With Thermal Solar Energy In Egypt, Tamer Adel Mohamed, Hesham Safwat, Mohammed A. Ebaid

Mechanical Engineering

This study investigates the feasibility of implementing a solar-assisted adsorption chiller in an industrial building at the Oriental Weavers International factory located in 10th of Ramadan City, Cairo, Egypt. The objective is to replace an inefficient split air conditioning system currently used to cool the Jacquard units during carpet manufacturing. The research begins by analyzing the performance of the existing cooling system to establish a baseline. It then explores the potential energy savings achievable by replacing the current system with a solar-assisted adsorption chiller. The existing oversized boiler will serve as an auxiliary heater for the new system. TRNSYS simulation …

Spring Rate Measurement Of A Pneumatic Mountain Bike Tire, Joseph D. Balderama, Alexandre Kachlakev, Duncan Wyke, Luki Rosen

Mechanical Engineering

The Final Design Review (FDR) presents a comprehensive overview of the spring rate measurement project for a pneumatic mountain bike tire. This report details the project's design, its implementation, and how it met all specified requirements. It also includes a discussion of the project's findings and recommendations for future work, assuming continuation of the project. The primary goal is to develop a device that allows professional race teams or experienced mountain bike riders to parameterize tires based on their spring rate in addition to internal pressure.

Since the Critical Design Review (CDR), the design has undergone significant changes due to …

Rapid Composter, Cate Seay, Clarisbet De Jesus, Lesley Milena Estrada, Reese Dennett

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review documents the efforts of a team of mechanical engineering students from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as they work towards completing their assigned senior design project. This team was tasked with designing and developing an onsite rapid composter for the Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast. The selected design concept that will be explained focuses on creating a composter that is child-safe, portable, weatherproof, solar-powered, and requires minimal manual user input. This report will not only provide a detailed description of the chosen design but will also supply an extensive design justification. This mainly …

F56: Rocket Thrust Vector Control, Ethan Douglas Anderson, Yiming Trent Jia, Sahil Sampat

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) report compiles relevant information regarding the Rocket Thrust Vector Control senior project as sponsored by Ethan Anderson from Cal Poly Space Systems (CPSS). Documented in this report is our progress from the months following our Critical Design Review (CDR) completion. This consists of a brief overview of the design our thrust vector control (TVC) system and its subassemblies with design changes noted, a thorough walkthrough of our procurement, manufacturing, and assembly process for creating our verification prototype (including software), a breakdown of how we verified each of our specifications through inspection and testing and the …

Cal Poly Battle Bot (F41), Jyotaaver S. Nirula, Andrew D. Peterson, Johnathan W. Waldmire, Nathaniel Ab Davis

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project endeavored to design, construct, and optimize a 120lb robot combatant tailored for the competitive arena of combat robotics. The project is a collaborative effort between mechanical, computer, and electrical engineering students at Cal Poly, combining diverse expertise to achieve a unified goal. Our competition, RoboGames, was in April of this year in Northern California.

The mechanical engineering team assumed primary responsibility for the physical components of the battle bot, focusing on three pivotal components: a robust drivetrain, armor, and a highperformance vertical spinner. These elements constitute the foundation of the battle bot's offensive and defensive capabilities, crucial …

Cal Poly Battle Bot, Jyotaaver S. Nirula, Johnathan W. Waldmire, Andrew D. Peterson, Nathaniel Ab Davis

Mechanical Engineering

This senior project endeavored to design, construct, and optimize a 120lb robot combatant tailored for the competitive arena of combat robotics. The project is a collaborative effort between mechanical, computer, and electrical engineering students at Cal Poly, combining diverse expertise to achieve a unified goal. Our competition, RoboGames, was in April of this year in Northern California.

The mechanical engineering team assumed primary responsibility for the physical components of the battle bot, focusing on three pivotal components: a robust drivetrain, armor, and a highperformance vertical spinner. These elements constitute the foundation of the battle bot's offensive and defensive capabilities, crucial …

Nsf-Eri Evolution Of Liquid Sheet Edges Project: Soap Film Frame Withdrawal And Positioning Apparatus, Samir S. Patel, Sophia Young, Nicole N. Morgan

Mechanical Engineering

The experimental investigation of instabilities along retracting liquid sheet edges seeks to answer a fundamental fluid mechanics question. We’ve successfully delivered an experimental apparatus to conduct research and answer this question. This document chronicles a design overview of our apparatus, our manufacturing process, our design verification, and recommendations for future steps. The final product is a document outlining our final design (i.e., our ‘Final Design Review’ (FDR)).

Autolacing The Dml, Harrison Hong, Chanh Tu Derek Lam, Candice Espitia, Paolo Navarro

Mechanical Engineering

The design challenge present is the design of a system to efficiently speed up the lacing of the dry mat loop (DML), part of the GAF production line. For this year, the scope of the project focuses on research and creating a proof of concept for the mechanism responsible for moving the mat within the DML. Compiled research focuses on competitor solutions, material properties, and possible mover mechanisms to be integrated into the major design. Competitor solutions provide an idea of raw material manipulation options. Material properties and possible mover mechanisms provide the foundation for ideation and concept prototyping. The …

Robot Rodeo, Daniel Rickers, Tyler Vaughn, Vinayak Sharath, Berent Baysal, Promit Das Gupta

Mechanical Engineering

This document outlines the Final Design Review (FDR) for an autonomous robot developed in response to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Ship Maintenance Robot Rodeo Challenge. Through extensive analysis, we selected a design concept, built a verification prototype, and tested the prototype in the NSWC Robot Rodeo Competition. The design overview portion of this report will present the details of our design while explaining how it will function. Next, is our implementation section, which provides evidence about our procurement, manufacturing, and assembly of our product. Our design verification follows and explains the tests that we conducted on the robot …

Non-Linear Modeling Of Hysteresis In Piezoelectric Actuated Cantilever Beam Using The Bouc-Wen Model, Andrew Donald Maas

Master's Theses

Piezoelectric actuators frequently exhibit a time-dependent behavioral phenomenon known as hysteresis, resulting in a lag in the deformation of the actuator compared to linear models. The presence of hysteresis complicates control systems involving piezoelectric actuators. However, traditional modeling methods for piezoelectric actuated smart structures often treat the piezoelectric patches as linear actuators without considering hysteresis, leading to suboptimal controller performance.

This thesis aims to establish a comprehensive model by integrating the Euler-Bernoulli beam bending model with the hysteresis dynamics induced by two opposing piezoelectric patches attached to a beam. A model expansion method is employed to transform the partial differential …

Autonomous Bottling And Packaging System - Mechanical Bottling Portion, Kathryn Gray

Honors College Theses

This report details the complete mechanical design of an autonomous bottling automation system. This system is fully integrated with a bottling and packaging system. The scope of the full project is to successfully bottle and cap twelve small bottles (approximately 68 cm3) in under three minutes and thirty seconds. The bottles shall be filled with an “electrolyte” and water mixture, and the mixture should be fully mixed. To complete this task, two tanks will dispense liquid (one electrolyte, and one water) into the bottles. Each tank shall have a measuring chamber, that will fill with the correct amount of volume …

Implementation Of Explainable Ai For Bearing Fault Classification, Mohammad Mundiwala

Honors Scholar Theses

It is difficult to overstate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past decade. The rapid expansion of machine learning has stimulated a race to deploy AI in all facets of life, one such domain being machine health monitoring. There is no doubt that machine learning excels in prediction accuracy, but oftentimes, these models are cryptic and fail to provide valuable insight into their decisions. This paper presents an overview of a neural network and what it means to learn. Next, two distinct Explainable AI (XAI) techniques will be presented: Gradient Class Activation Mapping and SimplEx . Finally, these …

Towing Tank Trials Of Hydrokinetic Turbine Scale Model To Support Marine Energy System Verification, Shahab Rouhi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In response to the escalating demand for sustainable energy solutions and the critical reevaluation of conventional fossil fuels due to environmental concerns, this dissertation embarks on a comprehensive exploration of hydrokinetic energy as a promising alternative. The study delves into the underexplored domain of hydrokinetic energy, leveraging innovative methodologies for effective utilization and harnessing, particularly through the development and investigation of hydrokinetic turbines.

In the realm of hydrokinetic energy conversion, our research has exclusively concentrated on horizontal-axis turbines, distinct from other turbine configurations. Noteworthy is the adaptation of a conventional horizontal-axis wind turbine for water currents, revealing enhanced performance through …

Cal Poly Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge 2024, J. Mason Gray, Ryan D'Amour, Alberto Acho Lopez, Christian Ferrandino, Johnathan Dietz

Mechanical Engineering

In this Final Design Review, the Cal Poly Fluid Power Vehicle Team competed in Norgren’s 2024 Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge. The design need of the competition was for college teams to compete with human-powered, hydraulic-driven vehicles in an endurance race, a sprint race, an efficiency race, and a regenerative power race. The competition need was to design a vehicle to win in as many races as possible, achieving the highest overall score and winning the competition. With a design emphasis on the endurance and sprint race, the Cal Poly team designed a fluid power system that fastened to a purchased …