The registration page is now open for the 2011 UCI Energy Invitational. Please register at your earliest convenience, we are planning on 30 entries. If you want to race more than one vehicle, then please register each vehicle separately.

This is a video capture of the operation of our Mathematica notebook for five-position synthesis of a four-bar linkage.   The link to download and try this notebook is on our Linkage Synthesis page.

This is a draft of my editorial on 21st Century Kinematics for the Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics. It is a follow-up to my previous editorial on Kinematics, Polynomials and Computers. I would welcome your feedback.

UCI Energy Invitational

The 2011 UCI Energy Invitational will be at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park on March 22-23, 2011. The Streets of Willow Springs will be set up with a highway, autocross and staged idle sections to challenge the energy usage of all types of vehicles. How far can your vehicle travel in an hour on this course using only $1.00 of energy? Please contact me if you are interested.

Select this link to the .pdf of Kinematics, Polynomials, and Computers–A Brief History, which is a summary of the history of the kinematics of mechanisms and robotics with a focus on the challenge of solving the polynomial equations that arise in their study.  It is a draft of my February 2011 editorial for the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics.

***Update*** This version has a correction to references [29] and [30].

This is a video on Yahoo! that shows the movement of the Convertible Hard Top of the Peugeot 407. The two side rails fold out from the back, and provide guides for the glass panels that move out to become the top.