School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Monday, May 2, 2016 at 15:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

A Jumper Glider robot
inspired by the locust

Avishai Beck

MSc Student of Dr. Gábor Kósa

In recent decades, researchers began to look for new solutions for mobility of robots by imitating the biological mechanisms found in nature, especially insects’ locomotion ability. Our research group engaged in developing a miniature jumping and gliding robot that mimics the locust’s locomotion. The target of the robot is to be able to maneuver and navigate in rough terrain by producing continues controlled jumps.

The goal of this study was to develop the gliding mechanism and then integrate it with the TAUB jumping mechanism in order to build a jumping gliding robot capable of multiple jumps and changing its orientation in air.

The robot jumps and commences a ballistic trajectory with closed wings and tail to reduce its drag. When the robot reaches the apex of the jump it spreads open the wing and tail and then glides down in a controlled descent. The gliding phase has three main objectives: To enhance the achieved distance, reduce the velocity of the landing impact from the ground and to determine the yaw angle of the body at landing.

In order to characterize the robot, a dynamic model with six degrees of freedom was developed. A model is solved numerically using the Matlab platform. The model aided in the analysis of the robots stability during in the airborne phase of its jump and the assessment of the gliding and yaw control abilities.

Sebveral prototypes were designed and evaluated experimentally to examine the separate phases of the robot’s jump. We tested the wings opening mechanism, stability of the ascent, gliding performance and yaw controlling. After developing the final gliding mechanism it was combined with the TAUB jumping mechanism and experiments were taken out on the fully integrated robot.

The latest prototype of the Jumper-Glider robot weighs 28 [gr]. It is capable of jumping to a height of 1.7 [m] and a distance of 4 [m]. The raobot controls its yaw angle in the air and it is capable of continuous jumps.

School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Monday, May 2, 2016 at 15:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

Ozonation of lignocellulosic biomass as a pre-treatment step

 for bioethanol production

Roi Peretz

MSc Student of Assoc. Prof. Hadas Mamane and Dr. Yoram Gerchman (Haifa University)

Geo-political concerns, environmental and health issues, and the growing need for energy have increased the demand for developing a new sustainable and clean source of energy for transportation, heating and industrial processes. There is a great need for “drop-in” fuels which will directly replace the petroleum based fuels used today. Unlike other energy products (like heat and power) which can be replaced by most of the alternative solutions, for the transportation sector there seems to be no alternative solution other than biomass conversion to energy. The goal of this research was to examine the use of ozone based Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP’s) as a pre-treatment method of lignocellulosic biomass (such as agricultural waste) prior to cellulase treatment used for conversion of cellulose to sugars. The research aimed to use ozonation on highly concentrated samples, as part of a vision for promoting a new, economic and competitive process. The ozonation experiments were first conducted on phenol (lignin) models such Gallic Acid and Tannic Acid with concentration up to 60 gr/L. Triple phase kinetics with two transition points have been obtained. Enzymatic activity demonstrated the highest potential at these two transition points. These results interestingly suggest that full mineralization of the phenols is not necessary for an optimal cellulase enzymatic activity. On later stages ozonation was conducted on biomass material such as olive mill solid wastes (OMSW) and paper wastes. It was found that post-ozonation samples of paper have lost their orderly fiber-type structure, due to the diminishing of the lignin part of the mass. In both cases, full decomposition of total phenols was achieved in a relative short periods of times. The combination of the above could make lignocellulosic biomass saccharification and fermentation processes more feasible, thereby rendering the conversion of agricultural waste more realistic. Moreover, creation of a new and ubiquitous source of biofuels is unequivocally a major goal of the biofuels research community.

School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 15:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

Breaking the Barriers to Realistic Simulation of the Human Body

Dr. Steve Levine

Living Heart Project at Dassault Systems, SIMULIA

It would be difficult to overestimate the impact on engineering, industry and society if we can accurately and cost effectively perform realistic simulations of the human body and its systems.  In fact, understanding and replicating the physics of the human body seems poised to be the next major horizon for a growing range of simulation tools that have now become irreplaceable for developing products from microchips to jetliners.  However, despite being the focus of countless studies over decades, it is not until recently has instrumentation been available to reveal its detailed dynamic behavior with sufficient accuracy to allow modeling and simulation to finally cross the threshold onto this frontier.

This presentation will highlight several areas of significant progress in virtual human simulation including the global translational cardiovascular initiative, the Living Heart Project. Through this project, a quantitatively accurate, fully coupled electromechanical simulation of a four chamber human heart was developed and made generally available in a robust commercial package. This computational model can provide critical insight to improve and develop new devices and procedures for treating heart conditions, the leading cause of death worldwide.  Progress on musculoskeletal hybrid multiscale models will also be presented that consist of realistic 3D structures for deformable joints, ligaments and soft tissues using novel non-linear finite element workflows to isolate the force balance under true load conditions. 

Applications examples will demonstrate the state-of-the art in replicating anatomically correct behavior at both the organ and musculoskeletal level using standard technology, representing a scalable translational environment for understanding human behavior in a real world context.

Bio:

Dr. Steve Levine is Sr. Director of Product Strategy and the Executive Director of the Living Heart Project at Dassault Systems SIMULIA. Since 2006, Steve has been responsible for driving the SIMULIA strategy towards its vision of enabling simulation to help harmonize Product, Nature and Life. Steve began his career at Engelhard Corporation, where he founded and led an applied simulation group in corporate R&D for over five years. In that time, his work featured in a number of discoveries, new product patents and he received several technical awards, including the highest research achievement award possible. Steve subsequently joined Biosym Technologies, a biomolecular simulation startup, which grew to become the leading modeling provider for the Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Materials industries, going public as Accelrys Inc. in 2003. Acclerys is now part of Dassault Systems creating the foundation for the brand BIOVIA.  During his 15 years at Accelrys, he held a number of positions including Director of Product Development, GM of Materials Informatics, and Sr. Director of Corporate Development. Steve holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Rutgers University and has been elected into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)'s College of Fellows.