Agile Methods on the Shop Floor: Towards a "Tesla Production System"?

This discussion paper investigates two questions: To what extend can Tesla be regarded as a digital firm, and do we - as a result - see elements of a distinct "Tesla production system"? While the EV-startup is widely approached as a competing automaker focusing on the electric drive train, which it certainly is, this paper argues that it can only fully be understood as a digital firm - a digital car company with a digital product embedded in a digital ecosystem. Its roots in Silicon Valley, its software-first approach, and its strategic exploitation of user activity data point into this direction. In the second part, this paper explores to what extent Tesla's rootedness in software and its Silicon-Valley ancestry gave reason to introduce methods borrowed from software development on the shop floor. To a certain degree, concepts from agile software development found their way to the very assembly-line at Tesla. Although it might be exaggerated to speak of a distinct "Tesla Production system", indications for a considerable and possibly enduring alteration of Lean Production paradigm can be determined

Road Friction Virtual Sensing:A Review of Estimation Techniques with Emphasis on Low Excitation Approaches

In this paper, a review on road friction virtual sensing approaches is provided. In particular, this work attempts to address whether the road grip potential can be estimated accurately under regular driving conditions in which the vehicle responses remain within low longitudinal and lateral excitation levels. This review covers in detail the most relevant effect-based estimation methods; these are methods in which the road friction characteristics are inferred from the tyre responses: tyre slip, tyre vibration, and tyre noise. Slip-based approaches (longitudinal dynamics, lateral dynamics, and tyre self-alignment moment) are covered in the first part of the review, while low frequency and high frequency vibration-based works are presented in the following sections. Finally, a brief summary containing the main advantages and drawbacks derived from each estimation method and the future envisaged research lines are presented in the last sections of the paper

ME-EM 2014-15 Annual Report

Table of Contents Human-centered Engineering Endowed Department Chair Enrollment & Degrees Graduates Department News Faculty & Staff Alumni Donors Contracts & Grants Patents & Publications Faculty & Staff Directoryhttps://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/mechanical-annualreports/1004/thumbnail.jp

Motion Planning

Motion planning is a fundamental function in robotics and numerous intelligent machines. The global concept of planning involves multiple capabilities, such as path generation, dynamic planning, optimization, tracking, and control. This book has organized different planning topics into three general perspectives that are classified by the type of robotic applications. The chapters are a selection of recent developments in a) planning and tracking methods for unmanned aerial vehicles, b) heuristically based methods for navigation planning and routes optimization, and c) control techniques developed for path planning of autonomous wheeled platforms

Unmanned Systems Sentinel / 3 June 2016

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Electrical and Computer Engineering Annual Report 2015

Faculty Directory Faculty Awards Google ATAP—Michigan Tech MURA The Sound Beneath the Surface Advancing Microgrid Deployment Clearing the Air Power in Their Hands Faculty Publications Graduate Student Highlights Staff Profile—Chito Kendrick New ECE Concentrations SLAM Systems Senior Design and Enterprise External Advisory Committee Contracts and Grants Departmental Statistics Lind Memorial Endowed Fellowshiphttps://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/ece-annualreports/1003/thumbnail.jp

Electrical and Computer Engineering Annual Report 2015

Faculty Directory Faculty Awards Google ATAP—Michigan Tech MURA The Sound Beneath the Surface Advancing Microgrid Deployment Clearing the Air Power in Their Hands Faculty Publications Graduate Student Highlights Staff Profile—Chito Kendrick New ECE Concentrations SLAM Systems Senior Design and Enterprise External Advisory Committee Contracts and Grants Departmental Statistics Lind Memorial Endowed Fellowshiphttps://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/ece-annualreports/1003/thumbnail.jp

How the architecture of the CityCar enhances personal mobility and supporting industries

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-124).Growing populations, increasing middle-class, and rapid urbanization - for today's urban dweller, all of these escalating factors continue to contribute to problems of excessive energy use, road congestion, pollution due to carbon emissions, and inefficient personal transit. Considering that the average vehicle in a city weighs thousands of pounds, usually caries only one person per trip, and expends significant proportions of its gasoline simply searching for resources such as parking, new efficient and intelligent modes of transportation are in need of exploration. This dissertation presents the design and development of an electric vehicle called the "CityCar" that confronts the aforementioned problems of urban mobility with a novel vehicle architecture. The assembly of the CityCar derives from a subset of "urban modular electric vehicle" (uMEV) components in which five core units are combined to create a variety of solutions for urban personal mobility. Drastically decreasing the granularity of the vehicle's subcomponents into larger interchangeable modules, the uMEV platform expands options for fleet customization while simultaneously addressing the complex rapport between automotive manufacturers and their suppliers through a responsibility shift among their respective subcomponents. Transforming its anatomy from complex mechanically-dominant entities to electrically-dominant modular components enables unique design features within the uMEV fleet. The CityCar for example exploits technologies such as a folding chassis to reduce its footprint by 40% and Robot Wheels that each are allotted between 72 to 120-degrees of rotation to together enable a seven-foot turning circle. Just over 1,000 pounds, its lightweight zero-emitting electric platform, comprised of significantly fewer parts, curbs negative externalities that today's automobiles create in city environments. Additionally, the vehicle platform developed from the assembly of several core units empowers a consortium of suppliers to self-coordinate through a unique modular business model. Lastly, the CityCar specific uMEV confronts problems within urban transit by providing a nimble folding mobility solution tailored specifically to crowded cities. Benefits, such as a 5:1 parking density and its reduced maintenance demands, are especially reinforced in the context of shared personal transportation services like Mobility-on-Demand.by William Lark, Jr.Ph.D