Videos

KinSyn and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

KinSyn and the History of Kinematic Synthesis

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My first experience with computer based kinematic synthesis was a 1982 presentation by Roger Kaufman of his KinSyn linkage design software on an Apple II microcomputer. This is a link to his description of his experience in those early days of computer-aided design of linkages.

His paper that describes this software can be found here. The photos are a terrific look into the computer technology in the 1970’s.

Here is a video that describes the operation of KinSyn, which I find to be an impressive integration of kinematics calculations in the background with a useful graphical presentation of information to the designer. I have to say that the graphical display was impressive in its day.

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Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms Title Video

Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms Title Video

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This animation was prepared by Yang Liu of a walking machine designed by Mark Plecnik. This is the title video for my new book Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanism: A project based approach.

The book contains 82 color figures and 30 animations. It is available as an iBook and a Kindle Interactive book on April 7, 2019.

The print version is available now on Amazon.com and the animations are available on the Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms YouTube Playlist.

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UCI’s 2016 Mini-Baja Vehicle

UCI’s 2016 Mini-Baja Vehicle

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You can follow the UCI race team at the web links:

This video shows the initial testing of UCI’s entry for the 2016 SAE Mini-Baja competition.

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Micro-Linkages for a Compliant Material

Micro-Linkages for a Compliant Material

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Lucas Shaw and Prof. Jonathan Hopkins show the micro-architecture of an actively compliant material. Micro-actuators within the unit cells of an assembly are coordinated to reshape the assembly as desired. This was presented as part of the 2015 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Boston, MA, August 2-5. The video below shows what this assembly can do.

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An Interesting Planar Robot at Laval

An Interesting Planar Robot at Laval

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Students of Prof. Clement Gosselin at the Laval University Robotics Laboratory demonstrate a four-degree of freedom planar robot. I particularly like the demonstration of its use as a gripper that does a cartwheel just for fun.

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Tensegrity Robotics at UC Berkeley

Tensegrity Robotics at UC Berkeley

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Students in Professor Alice Agogino’s Berkeley Emergent Space Technologies Laboratory, the BEST Lab, working on motion planning for their tensegrity robot.

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Origami Art at BYU

Origami Art at BYU

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Mechanical engineering students in Prof. Larry Howell’s Compliant Mechanisms Research Group designed and constructed this kinetic structure for the BYU Museum of Art. It illustrates paper folding known as origami.

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Sorry: Earth Day 2015

Sorry: Earth Day 2015

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Change for Balance filmed this video for Earth Day 2015 with Prince EA. The postscript is footage of Prince EA deep inside the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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2014 Energy Invitational Video

2014 Energy Invitational Video

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As preparations continue for the 2015 UCI Energy Invitational, here is a reminder of last year’s event.

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Another version of the six-bar folding linkage

Another version of the six-bar folding linkage

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This is a little more compact version of the six-bar folding linkage that Kaustubh Sonawale found using MechGen 3.0.

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