Category Archives: Engineering
OPINION: Generative design could bring a new burst of innovation to engineering – Professional Engineering
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For an astronaut working in space, perhaps as far away as 240,000 miles from Planet Earth, the design of the life support backpack that provides them with oxygen, heating and cooling inside of their spacesuits couldnt be more important.
It makes sense, then, that when it came to creating its Exploration Portable Life Support System, or xPLSS, NASA contractor Jacobs Engineering Group wanted to explore new realms in design. Its mission: to squeeze the best performance possible out of every kilogram in its life support backpack.
To arrive at their optimum design, engineers at the Houston, Texas-based company used generative tools in PTCs Creo 3D CAD software to create a huge range of options, experimenting with hundreds of combinations of different materials along the way and investigating the viability of a range of manufacturing processes, both traditional and additive manufacturing.
Not only were they able to achieve part mass reduction of around 50%, but they now expect their use of generative design technology to shorten design times by 20%.
Thats an important point, because while generative design is increasingly recognised as a way to challenge design conventions and cast the innovation net wider, its also about getting to better ideas faster often, a lot faster. And for many product design organisations, that could help unlock new territories and markets in 2022.
According to a study by market research company Imarc Group, the global generative design market reached a value of $192.9 million in 2021. And the company expects it to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 19% over the next five years, to reach $526 million by 2027.
Companies will invest because, as an April 2022 report from strategy firm McKinsey points out: Design is playing an increasingly important role in companies overall success. The reports authors observe a shift from the design to cost approaches that many adopted two decades ago, to a more modern growth by design approach.
This is better equipping companies to tackle various challenges, they write, such as generating growth through improved ratings; refining the product portfolio more surgically at the attribute level to both reduce redundancy (overlaps) and to address unmet needs (gaps); embracing design for manufacturability; and harnessing the latest technology to optimise geometries.
On this last point, the report picks out two technologies in particular: digital simulation tools such as finite element analysis (FEA) and generative design.
Generative design can help fast track these efforts, bringing to light more sustainable materials options; identifying the most energy-efficient forms of manufacture; and reducing the final mass of products (lightweighting), considerably lowering their consumption of energy and raw materials while at the same time improving their technical performance.
In 2022, the combination of innovation and sustainability makes generative design a compelling prospect for companies. At Volvo, its already helping engineers to 3D print brackets for vehicles that are lighter than ever. At Jacobs, it has enabled product design to reach dizzying new heights. And along the way, it is challenging established ideas of what a product should look like, how it should be made and how it should perform, at every stage in its lifecycle, from initial concept to end of life.
Get to grips with the future factory at Advanced Manufacturing (18-22 July), part of the Engineering Futures webinar series.Register for FREE today.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
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TCS recognized as Engineering Services Provider of the Year – Business Standard
By Everest Group
TCS emerged as the #1 player in Engineering Services based on its consistent top performance and leadership position across all five engineering services PEAK Matrix Assessments by - Everest Group - Industry 4.0, Autonomous, Connected, Electric, and Shared (ACES) Automotive, Software Product, Semiconductor and 5G Engineering Services.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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TCS recognized as Engineering Services Provider of the Year - Business Standard
LSU Mechanical Engineering Faculty Team Up With NASA to Advance Additively Manufactured Materials – Bossier Press-Tribune Online
BATON ROUGE Launch vehicles and propulsion systems are very complex and must survive extreme thermal, dynamic, pressure, and environmental loads. The materials and alloys used in these systems are often challenging to produce, costly, and have long lead times. Thanks to a NASA EPSCoR, or Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and a Louisiana Board of Regents grant, LSU Mechanical Engineering Professors Shengmin Guo and Michael Khonsari are working with NASA and LaSPACE to advance additively manufactured alloys to help reduce cost and lead times.
Our goal through EPSCoR and other partnerships is to advance technologies, including novel alloys, for our missions and commercial spaceflight partners, said Paul Gradl, NASA principal engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Part of our role is to understand the additive manufacturing processes better and provide accessible data so that NASA and industry can make better use of these processes and novel alloys.
For the past 18 months, Guo and Khonsari have been experimenting with alloys used in liquid rocket engine components made by additive manufacturing, or AM, methods, such as laser powder-bed fusion, or L-PBF, and laser powder-directed energy deposition, or LP-DED, methods. When NASA makes parts using additive manufacturing, the parts cost 50 percent less to produce than parts made with traditional manufacturing, and parts can also be produced two to 10 times faster. Traditional parts can take a year to make, whereas, the same part can be made using AM methods in a few weeks, or for the most complex parts, in a few months.
L-PBF metallic 3D parts are fabricated by sequentially and selectively melting thin powder layers according to CAD-directed laser scanning strategies. Multiple laser line scans form the desired 2D section shape, followed by multiple powder deposition/laser irradiation cycles that generate complex 3D metal/alloy parts. LP-DED allows for large AM parts to be fabricated with a deposition head attached to a robot based on a CAD-directed toolpath.
In this project, Guo, Khonsari and their graduate students conducted thermal and mechanical property measurements on more than 30 AM alloys and processes and established protocols for sample preparation, thermal and mechanical property testing, material characterization and data analysis. Supported by EPSCoR and NASA Marshall, this project will provide NASA and industry with detailed datasets regarding thermophysical properties of the metallic AM parts.
We have a lot of complex parts that have internal features and channels that were traditionally made from multiple joining operations [welding and brazing] to fabricate a component, Gradl said. As additive manufacturing processes and metal alloys mature, we must have good understanding of the properties to design for these additive processes that include mechanical and thermophysical properties.
According to Gradl, the thermophysical properties are a critical element of the design, and NASA required a substantial dataset for materials used in additive manufacturing processes, which is where the EPSCoR grant filled a gap. A key thermophysical property is thermal conductivity, particularly in high-temperature components, such as combustion chambers, where heat transfer is critical for the alloy being used.
This project builds upon the successful results of multiple National Science Foundation grants, Louisiana Board of Regents grants and LSUs investments in material and advanced manufacturing research, Guo said.
Apart from thermal property measurements, this team utilized the LSU Center for Rotating Machinery, or CeRoM, equipment to perform mechanical testing and provide mechanical property measurements using the LSU Shared instrumentation Facility. CeRoM houses state-of-the-art fatigue-testing equipment, including rotating bending, fully-reversed bending, torsion bending and tension compression combined with torsion testing apparatuses.
EPSCoR is excited to be associated with this research, said Jeppie Compton, NASA EPSCoR project manager. What is lab research today will one day be normal business, and with this database of properties that the team did methodical studies on, NASA and our industry partners could have a huge advantage for decades to come.
Guos AM alloy thermophysical property work will also be featured in the appendix of a textbook led by NASA titled Metal Additive Manufacturing for Propulsion Applications. This book will be published by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics under the Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics series.
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Space Command HQ benefits from Colorado’s universities, scientists and aerospace engineers, say officials – Colorado Public Radio
Colorados universities and robust aerospace workforce are part of the latest pitch to keep Space Command headquarters in Colorado. This time its coming from Rep. Joe Neguse and leaders of Colorado's higher education community.
They have all written Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin and Sec. of the Air Force Frank Kendall to highlight Colorados research and scientific labs that would benefit Space Command.
Colorados universities have been training and fostering this talented pool of aerospace engineers and scientists for decades, writes Neguse. As a former Regent of the University of Colorado system, Ive seen first-hand the important work our universities do to grow and maintain a strong aerospace workforce and I believe Colorado remains the best place for this work to continue.
Neguse stressed that Colorado has the second-largest aerospace economy and workforce, and that keeping Space Command at Peterson Space Force Base would help protect national security.
Neguse's letter echos the sentiments of more than 20 academic leaders, who also wrote the two military leaders highlighting the research capabilities in the state.
Our institutions are at the forefront of the nations leading space research, including studying and advancing the knowledge of our Earth Systems as well as investigating Low-Earth Orbit and beyond, they wrote. Addressing areas of strategic importance, including space domain awareness, unmanned aircraft systems, propulsion, remote sensing and cybersecurity, etc., allows our faculty researchers to assist efforts at the Pentagon and on the front lines to keep us safe and protect our way of life.
They offered to host them at one of their institutions during any future visit to the state.
This is the latest attempt by state leaders to convince the Biden administration to revisit the basing decision for the permanent headquarters of Space Command. Former President Donald Trump reportedly decided to move the headquarters to Alabama, over the recommendation from his military leaders to keep the headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Members of the Colorado Congressional delegation believe that the findings from the GAO Inspector General report will show that the methodology for the basing decision was flawed.
That report has yet to be made public.
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Fractions
/To enter a fraction of the form 3/4. Click a number and then click fraction bar, then click another number.
You can use fraction space button to create a number of the form 5 3/4. Enter a number, then click fraction space, click another number and then click on the fraction bar button, lastly enter another number.
DEC FRADecimal format button and Fraction format button work as pair. When you choose the one the other is switched off.Decimal format button is used for all decimal work. Also to change a fraction of the form 3/4 to the decimal 0.75, or a fraction of the form 7/4 or a mixed number of the form 1 3/4 to the decimal 1.75. Click on the decimal format button, enter a fraction or mixed number, then click equals. If the fraction or mixed number is only part of the calculation then omit clicking equals and continue with the calculation per usual. i.e. 3/4 DEC x 6 =.Fraction format button is used to work with all fractions. Also to change a decimal of the form 0.5 to the fraction 1/2, or change a decimal of the form 1.75 to a mixed number of the form 1 3/4 or to the fraction 7/4, or a fraction of the form 7/4 to the mixed number 1 3/4. Click the fraction format button, enter a decimal, click equals and then click on a fraction form and then click equals. If the fraction of decimal is part of a calculation, omit clicking equals and continue with the calculation.
a b/c a+b/cProper fraction button and Improper fraction button work as pair. When you choose the one the other is switched off.Proper fraction button is used to change a number of the form of 9/5 to the form of 1 4/5. A proper fraction is a fraction where the numerator (top number) is less than the denominator (bottom number).Improper fraction button is used to change a number of the form of 1 4/5 to the form of 9/5. An improper fraction is a fraction where the numerator (top number is greater than or equal to the denominator (bottom number).
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A Day in The Life of Systems Engineer Cherie Cain – All Together – Society of Women Engineers
As a kid, I always liked math and science, especially astronomy. However, as a thirteen-year-old, I wanted to write novels. That changed in high school, when my enjoyment of math and science outpaced my interest in English class. While considering college majors that matched my interest in math and science, I started exploring engineering, with thoughts of working for NASA one day. My high school physics teacher, Ann Smart, found local engineering programs to help with my exploration. One of the programs was A Day in the Life of an Engineer, conducted by the University of New Orleans SWE section. I decided that day that I wanted to be an engineer.
I also discovered one of my neighbors was an engineer working on the external fuel tanks for the space shuttle. When I told him that I was considering Aerospace Engineering, he suggested I select Mechanical Engineering, which at the time would provide more career options but still allow me to pursue a career in the aerospace industry. I followed his advice and majored in Mechanical Engineering.
I earned my Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tulane University. While at Tulane, I interned in the petrochemical industry. I started my professional career working on chemical analysis equipment as a Manufacturing Engineer. In this role, I developed process and product improvements to improve the quality and manufacturability of different chemical analysis and sampling equipment. I also worked in the defense industry as a Mechanical Engineering Designer, working on mechanical modifications for military shelters. I then transitioned into Systems Engineering work as a Systems Integration Engineer in the aerospace industry. I liked seeing the bigger picture of how the systems I was helping to develop came together and integrated into the larger aircraft system. My work is so enjoyable that I recently earned an additional Master of Engineering degree in Systems Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute through the Raytheon Technologies Employee Scholar Program. Through this program, Raytheon paid for all of the expenses of my graduate degree while I worked full-time.
I am currently a Senior Principal Systems Engineer for Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies. I lead cross-functional teams to design, improve, and support air management systems on commercial aircraft. Air management systems provide conditioned air to the cockpit and cabins on the aircraft. These systems also include fuel inerting, which makes sure the fuel needed to power the aircraft will not combust. This works by reducing the oxygen content of the ullage, or air volume above the fuel, in the aircraft fuel tank. As fuel is consumed during flight, there is less fuel in the tank and the remaining oxygen in the ullage is replaced by non-flammable inert gas. I get to work with our airframer customers, or the people that make the aircrafts, that specify how the system needs to perform and integrate into the aircraft.
Within the cross-functional teams that I lead, I am working with engineers from across many disciplines. We collaborate to design the system architecture, defining the hardware and software that fulfill both the customers needs and the system requirements. As we are designing the system, we evaluate if we are meeting all the system requirements by a variety of analyses and tests. After the aircraft has entered into service, we continue to evaluate and implement system improvements, as well as provide support to airframers and airlines. I enjoy working on challenging, complex problems with a team of engineers across different disciplines. Often, you are learning or discovering something new.
To girls interested in engineering, I would advise to be flexible. Stay open to exploring new ideas and opportunities, whether it is selecting a college major, joining projects, or applying for internships. Be comfortable with asking questions. When working in a multi-discipline team, no one person will have all of the background knowledge. Work on your communication and teamwork skills whenever you have a school or work assignment with a partner or team. Engineers rarely accomplish all of their work individually. Consider Systems Engineering if you like understanding how complex systems work and are developed.
SWE Blog
SWE Blog provides up-to-date information and news about the Society and how our members are making a difference every day. Youll find stories about SWE members, engineering, technology, and other STEM-related topics.
Kristine Loh
Kristine Loh is a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and the Day in the Life reporter for the high school SWENext newsletter. She graduated from Drexel University in 2020 with her bachelors in Chemical Engineering and her masters in Materials Science and Engineering.
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A Day in The Life of Systems Engineer Cherie Cain - All Together - Society of Women Engineers
Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility – Temple Universirty College of Engineering
The Temple University College of Engineering is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable climate where all members of our community can thrive. We strive to actively promote an understanding of the value that diversity and inclusion bring to the College and affirm our responsibility to educate ourselves in the ways that inequities can present themselves. Our commitment is based on the guiding principle that we are dedicated to building an educational community grounded in appreciation for others, open-mindedness and respect, where everyone can succeed.
Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee Mission
The College of Engineerings DEIA Committee supports the Colleges commitment to a welcoming, inclusive environment for all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, religion, language, ability, and neurodiversity status. The DEIA Committee provides resources to proactively promote an understanding of the value that diversity and inclusion brings to the College and identifies strengths and opportunities for growth.
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Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility - Temple Universirty College of Engineering
Industrial Engineering Students Recognized With Department Awards | University of Arkansas – University of Arkansas Newswire
The Department of Industrial Engineering recognizes students each spring at the Annual Industrial Engineering Student Awards Banquet. This year, the event returned to the pre-pandemic format with faculty, students, staff and alumni meeting together at the Fayetteville Town Center on April 27.
The department handed out its most prestigious awards, and the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineering awarded more than $224,500 in scholarships to 62 deserving students.
The Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Graduate Student awards are intended to recognize the top industrial engineering undergraduate and graduate student. The winners are selected by faculty vote based on excellence in academic performance, leadership, service, collegiality, ethics and dedication. The Graduate Research Award is also selected by faculty vote and recognizes the graduate student who made the most valuable contribution to departmental research efforts in 2021.
The honor of Outstanding Graduate Student for 2022 went to Mohammadmahdi Hajiha. With his adviser, Xiao Liu, Hajiha has been conducting research in Bayesian statistics with applications in a variety of areas, including predictive analysis, statistical learning and machine learning. He has published his research in the Journal of Quality Technology, has a paper under second-round review with the Journal of Reliability Engineering and System Safety and authored a book chapter in the Handbook of Smart Energy Systems. He completed an operations research internship with FedEx Freight, working on the network optimization team. He was also active on campus, serving as an officer in the Iranian Student Association.
The 2021 Graduate Research Award was presented to Maryam Kheirandish. Kheirandish has been conducting research in medical decision making. She developed a landmark modeling method and machine learning algorithms for tuberculosis treatment outcome prediction. In 2021, she published this work in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and presented it at the INFORMS annual meeting. Her adviser, Shengfan Zhang, speaks very highly of her performance as data manager for several collaborative research projects, where she designs data collection forms and trains international team members on data related issues.
The Outstanding Senior award is intended to recognize the most outstanding undergraduate industrial engineering studentwho graduated in Fall 2021 or isgraduating in either Spring or Summer 2022.
Coleman Warren was recognized this year as the 2022 Industrial Engineering Outstanding Senior. Warren has represented the core values of this award to the highest standard throughout his time on campus. This is evidenced by his selection as our ArcBest Outstanding Freshman in 2019, a great start to his academic career. But his accolades do not end there. He has served our department as a senior capstone project manager and as an officer in our student chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He has served our college as a First-Year Engineering peer mentor. He has served the entire university student body as Associated Student Government president. He started an ice cream business, Simple + Sweet Creamery, that is focused on fighting child hunger in Northwest Arkansas. To date, Simple + Sweet has donated over 35,000 meals through the NWA Food Bank. Somehow, in addition, he has managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA and complete an undergraduate honors thesis. In 2021, he was awarded a Truman Scholarship, and in 2022, he was named a Rhodes Scholar, making him the only undergraduate student in the history of the U of A to receive both prestigious awards.
Coleman was also recently selected as the 2022 Outstanding Senior Student for the College of Engineering.
The seniors who completed an honors thesis were recognized this year as an added feature. The following students completed an honors thesis:
Each year, the ArcBest Corporation sponsors the Outstanding Freshman Award. This award is presented to one first-year engineering student who has declared industrial engineering as a major and is selected by the faculty and staff of the First-Year Engineering Program.
The 2022 ArcBest Outstanding Freshman Award goes to Daniel Terry.
Corporate sponsor Hytrol Conveyors presents the annual Hytrol Challenge Award, given each year to the best team in a competition in the transportation logistics or facility logistics course. This year, the competition is from a group project in Introduction to Transportation Logistics.
The team of Emma Regier and Austin Wood are the recipients of the Hytrol Challenge Award for 2021. Regier and Wood earned the highest average score across three projects in INEG 4633: Transportation Logistics in Fall 2021. The three projects related to optimizing less-than-truckload pricing contracts, locating facilities in a supply chain network and designing vehicle routes to satisfy over 250 delivery requests.
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What the Class of 2022 Should Know About Getting Started in Engineering – Manufacturing.net
Keeping in mind that every company will evaluate your interests, experience and qualifications differently, heres some generic advice Id share.
While some companies still require a specific degree to fill a role, robotics seems to be stacked with people who break this mold. I work in a world of PhDs, college dropouts, mechanical engineers who write software, and software engineers who design mechanical parts. Some roboticists make it all the way through college without any direct robotics exposure, while others may be employable with skills compiled in a high school robotics program.
Be brave and willing to experiment in college and with internships, as these are great opportunities to learn what you like and what you dont like. Try to find what youre passionate about early; it is a lot harder to change your path late in your career!
The internet has democratized education, and most employers are aware that someone with a high school diploma and a zealous interest in software can easily develop into a stellar software engineer. As a result, youll see more and more job postings that list requirements similar to MS in software engineering, or equivalent experience.
Still, a conventional college education is by far the most common path to a job in robotics, and the most popular degrees are in mechanical, electrical, software, computing, systems, and if your school offers it, robotic engineering.
It can be hard to find an interesting job without relevant experience on your resume. Keep in mind that part-time jobs during high school demonstrate reliability and soft skills that are often implicitly required in job applications.
Lucky for you, most engineering companies have embraced the idea of hiring college students for summer internships. Again, when youre just trying to get your foot in the door, make salary a second priority. Focus on finding yourself a job that will give you the necessary experience. I met an American high school student who found an interesting drone design firm in Japan, and through a carefully crafted email that pointed out all the improvements he could make to their website, managed to get hired for a summer. He even contributed to their drone software before the summer was over.
Another student who offered to work for free if he could report directly to a company CFO wound up getting a paid internship despite the fact that no job was posted, and he had no relevant prior experience. A cover letter stating that you want to work for XYZ company so badly that youll sacrifice your salary is a powerful tool that will generally get your application some attention.
If you have some great idea you want to pursue, consider a self-led project; these look great on a resume and can teach you some invaluable skills.
Once youre looking for a longer-term job, make sure youre honest about what you do and dont enjoy. Even in an interview, I appreciate having candidates who are genuinely interested in figuring out if the job is a good fit for them. If you openly talk to determine fit, there is a better chance youll find a role you love. Conversely, if you land a job by exaggerating your experience/skill/interest, it is unlikely to work out in the long run. While you are on a quest to search for a job or college, remember that recruiters and employers are doing the same, looking for potential employees who would be a good asset to their company.
Once youre in a job, make sure it is leading you in the right direction. A lot of small companies may not have a structured career planning program, or your manager might just be oblivious to the concept. Dont be afraid to drive this conversation yourself; talk to your manager about where you want to take your career, and together find opportunities to build relevant skills. If you find yourself in a position where you cant seem to get the experience youre looking for, cast a net and see what other opportunities you can find.
Lastly, know and believe you deserve a great job. A little self-respect can go a long way in building a good mutual relationship between you and an employer. Ultimately it is up to you to forge your unique experience, and I wish you the best luck on your journey!
Matt Coady has spent more than 25 years in the robotics industry, working in a broad range of robotic industries. As Realtime Robotics VP of Engineering, he is responsible for ensuring that engineering fully realizes the companys vision, delivering the strongest possible product to customers on time and with the expected quality.
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What the Class of 2022 Should Know About Getting Started in Engineering - Manufacturing.net
Presented with real-world problem, Pioneer students use engineering chops to find solutions – The Recorder
NORTHFIELD Presented with a real-world problem of ensuring employee safety while still being efficient, Pioneer Valley Regional School students put their engineering and design skills to the test Thursday.
The students in John Heffernans Engineering Design 1 and 2 classes were presented a delivery problem by Nick Stevens, the manager of Greenfields Coca Cola Bottling Co.: how can the company make sure employees are safe and efficient while delivering 75 to 150 pounds of product up flights of stairs? Students were given six weeks to come up with designs and show them off to a panel of judges consisting of Stevens, Principal Kevin Burke, science teacher Emma Harnisch, and University of Massachusetts engineering professors Jim Lagrant and Steve de Bruyn Kops.
Students were presented with the challenge of designing gizmos and tools that would help a delivery employee, who normally lifts a dolly of product up the stairs, quickly move the beverages with the help of pulleys, machines and motors.
Joey Seaman, a freshman, and Levi Moran, a junior, designed an intervaled ascending mechanism that used a motor to power a four-wheeled machine that could drive up stairs. The boys were awarded first place in the competition, while Ben Goodwin and Alex McClelland were awarded second place.
We wanted it to be easy to use, Joey said. If you had to do training to use this, that would take time and money.
They said their design process faced several challenges and bottlenecks, but they soon came up with their plan, which incorporated wheels, the structure of the machine and programming the motor.
It was fun to build a robot to the best of our abilities, Joey said, with Levi adding it was great to have this creative project that was based on a real-world challenge.
While observing students projects and presentations, Heffernan said it was nice to see the finished products because, even though he sees the kids every day, he doesnt fully get to take in the projects until theyre done.
They really dug deep into this problem, he said.
Seniors Jayden Fox and Caleb Seaman designed a pulley system that pulled a cart up the stairs. Based on their calculations, the pulley system would be able to pull 70 pounds of product if the design was scaled up to actual size.
It was the easiest thing to do with the least amount of failure, Jayden said. If it helps the workers, its worth it.
Jayden said he and Caleb were faced with several challenges in designing their machine because applying engineering principles is not always a plug-and-play process in the real world.
When you start doing it theres always something that doesnt add up, Jayden said. Your first idea is not always your best idea.
Junior Connor McHaffie designed a self-lifting dolly attachment that required no motors or pulleys, only the power of the worker, which was supplemented with an additional wheel.
Theres a lot of different approaches you can take, he said. It was cool thinking about making a solution for something that might help people.
Both UMass professors said they were impressed by the students work and how they responded to a problem presented by a customer, which is what professional engineers do every day. When the project began, Stevens spoke to the kids in a Zoom session about the problem he proposed and what his expectations were.
What I really liked is how they have a real-world problem and they talked to the customer, Lagrant said, noting the students took the economic and worker impacts of the projects they were designing into account.
De Bruyn Kops added that the students took engineering principles into account, while also working on a tight timeline, much like real engineers.
Its really neat, he said about the project, noting that engineers need to come up with the best possible designs for a problem. You cant disregard the science, but you cant wait to get the answer.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.
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