UCLA vehicle
UCLA’s supermileage vehicle will race on May 20, 2012 as part of the 2012 Energy Invitational at Adam’s Motorsports Park. Select this link for more information…
This is a photograph of some of the members of UCLA’s race team.
UCLA Team
Type “mechanism” or “robotics” into google.com and the first items to appear are Wikipedia articles. In fact, chances are that any technical term in mechanisms and robotics, such as “machine,” “gear,” or “inverse kinematics,” will yield Wikipedia articles on the first page.
Internet marketers work hard to achieve first page rankings in Google’s search algorithm using techniques known as search engine optimization (SEO). In response Google regularly revises its algorithm to reduce the presence of web-sites that have poor content but high rankings, a sign of effective SEO. (1) A revision introduced in early 2011 seems to like Wikipedia.
When teaching, I check to see what my students find on-line with search terms like “four-bar linkage” and “mechanical advantage,” even “screw theory” and “quaternions.” Last year I became so frustrated with the poor quality of the articles appearing at the top of my searches, that on May 27, 2011 I created a user account and entered Wikipedia as a novice editor.
I am approaching one year and 3,800 edits on over 60 articles on Wikipedia. While I could not repair everything that I felt was wrong or misleading, I am claiming success, because the culture of Wikipedia imposes limits on what can be done.
This experience has sharpened my appreciation for the challenge of managing information on the Internet. Before I get to this, let me share some advice regarding the world that is Wikipedia.
Please contact me if you would like to join us at the 2012 UCI Energy Invitational.
Our Mechanism Generator 3.0 software reads a SolidWorks sketch of a planar 3R chain that reaches five task positions and computes a set of Watt 1 six-bar linkages that approximate movement through the task positions within specified tolerances. An animation previewer shows how each linkage moves. Select one and MechGen 3 generates a solid model of the linkage.
This is more excellent work from the team of Alex Arredondo and Kastubh Sonawale.
**Update: This video has been revised to provide a preview at the beginning that shows the six-bar linkage that is designed using MechGen 3.
We have a trial version of our Mechanism Generator 2.0 software available. MechGen 2 reads five task positions of a moving part in SolidWorks and generates a set of linkages that approximate the positions within specified tolerances. An animation previewer shows how each linkage moves. Select one and MechGen 2 generates the solid model of the linkage.
This is the result of excellent work by Alex Arredondo and Kaustubh Sonawale.
This video demonstrates the operation of MechGen 2:
Happy holidays and have a happy new year!
This site has photographs of a large number of devices used to teach physics. It is fascinating.
Select the link: http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/index.html
SAE is a leader in demonstrating the importance of major engineering competition projects to engineering education. Colleges around the world have adopted this model and included FSAE and similar competitions as part of their educational program. Despite budget limitations, universities are increasingly moving to major competition projects to develop and demonstrate the engineering skills of their students.
The excitement of building and testing remote controlled airplanes, autonomous underwater vehicles, Mini-Baja and FSAE racecars and other projects attracts students and provides them meaningful experience in team engineering, as well as the opportunity to prove their skills to potential employers. Industrial mentors are needed to team with the faculty advisors in order to ensure the student engineers get the most of these experiences.
I have spent quite a bit of time revising articles on machines in Wikipedia. I hope my contributions are an improvement.
When I started there was a lot of controversy over the definition of Machine, which forced me to introduce Machine (mechanical) and Mechanical system. This has changed and there is movement to move the definitions under a revised version of Machine.
Please take a look:
Anyone may edit Wikipedia, and it is intended to allow user communities to maintain the quality of particular sets articles. It is important that we take this opportunity because Wikipedia is an important resource to our students.
Select this link to access the SAE SoCal section facebook page with photos of activities on Thursday of the 2011 FSAE California.