Computational Design and Optimization of Non-Circular Gears

We study a general form of gears known as non‐circular gears that can transfer periodic motion with variable speed through their irregular shapes and eccentric rotation centers. To design functional non‐circular gears is nontrivial, since the gear pair must have compatible shape to keep in contact during motion, so the driver gear can push the follower to rotate via a bounded torque that the motor can exert. To address the challenge, we model the geometry, kinematics, and dynamics of non‐circular gears, formulate the design problem as a shape optimization, and identify necessary independent variables in the optimization search. Taking a pair of 2D shapes as inputs, our method optimizes them into gears by locating the rotation center on each shape, minimally modifying each shape to form the gear's boundary, and constructing appropriate teeth for gear meshing. Our optimized gears not only resemble the inputs but can also drive the motion with relatively small torque. We demonstrate our method's usability by generating a rich variety of non‐circular gears from various inputs and 3D printing several of the

Statistics of shared components in complex component systems

Many complex systems are modular. Such systems can be represented as "component systems", i.e., sets of elementary components, such as LEGO bricks in LEGO sets. The bricks found in a LEGO set reflect a target architecture, which can be built following a set-specific list of instructions. In other component systems, instead, the underlying functional design and constraints are not obvious a priori, and their detection is often a challenge of both scientific and practical importance, requiring a clear understanding of component statistics. Importantly, some quantitative invariants appear to be common to many component systems, most notably a common broad distribution of component abundances, which often resembles the well-known Zipf's law. Such "laws" affect in a general and non-trivial way the component statistics, potentially hindering the identification of system-specific functional constraints or generative processes. Here, we specifically focus on the statistics of shared components, i.e., the distribution of the number of components shared by different system-realizations, such as the common bricks found in different LEGO sets. To account for the effects of component heterogeneity, we consider a simple null model, which builds system-realizations by random draws from a universe of possible components. Under general assumptions on abundance heterogeneity, we provide analytical estimates of component occurrence, which quantify exhaustively the statistics of shared components. Surprisingly, this simple null model can positively explain important features of empirical component-occurrence distributions obtained from data on bacterial genomes, LEGO sets, and book chapters. Specific architectural features and functional constraints can be detected from occurrence patterns as deviations from these null predictions, as we show for the illustrative case of the "core" genome in bacteria.Comment: 18 pages, 7 main figures, 7 supplementary figure

Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education

[EN] Understanding that design involves trade-offs, thinking at multiple levels of abstraction, and considering the cohesion and coupling between sub-components of a larger whole is an important part of software (and other) engineering. It can be challenging to convey such abstract design concepts to novice engineers, especially for materials that are themselves abstract (e.g. software). Such challenges are compounded when teaching at the secondary school stage where students have limited experience of large-scale design problems that motivate the need for abstraction at all. In this paper, we describe a method for introducing these concepts to secondary school students using LEGO® and Raspberry Pi computers, asking them to build musical instruments as an entertaining way of motivating engagement with learning about design through play. The method has been successfully piloted in a series of three classroom sessions and key observations and experiences of using the method are presented.This project received no external funding but was funded by the UCL Department of Computer Science Strategic Research FundGold, NE.; Purves, R.; Himonides, E. (2022). Playing, Constructionism, and Music in Early-Stage Software Engineering Education. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 9(1):14-38. https://doi.org/10.4995/muse.2022.1645314389

Creating DYOR: Do your own robot an educational robotic toy kit

[EN] This project presents DYOR: an educational robotic toy kit how it helps the school students to get better understanding of the aspects of engineering before they get ready to choose their career. It provides an ideal platform enabling school students understand various elements like science, manufacturing technology, mathematics, design and apply their knowledge in these areas effectively with additional inputs like programming, logical analysis to create solutions for the given task.[ES] Este proyecto presenta DYOR: un kit de juguete robótico educativa cómo ayuda a los estudiantes de la escuela para obtener una mejor comprensión de los aspectos de la ingeniería antes de que se disponen a elegir su carrera. Proporciona una plataforma ideal estudiantes de la escuela que permite comprender diversos elementos como la ciencia, la tecnología de fabricación, las matemáticas, el diseño y aplican sus conocimientos en estas áreas eficazmente con entradas adicionales como la programación, análisis lógico para crear soluciones para la tarea encomendada.Singh, H. (2016). Creating DYOR: Do your own robot an educational robotic toy kit. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/67515TFG

Alleviating pre-service teachers’ STEM anxiety through the use of remote access laboratories

Amid calls for greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in primary education, non-specialist teachers required to teach these subjects are often prone to anxiety as a consequence of their own education including only limited exposure to STEM. This paper reports on a study in which pre-service primary teachers (N=40) worked with Remote Access laboratory (RAL) activities to develop their knowledge of, and confidence with, STEM concepts. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) was used to measure their emotional status before and after participating in the RAL activities. Challenges in operation of the experimental equipment produced inconclusive quantitative results but analysis of qualitative data suggested that, with further development, the activities could contribute to a reduction in STEM anxiety

Scaffolding children's exploration of motion and mechanism

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2000.MIT Institute Archives copy bound: p. [1]-80, 83-86, 81-82, 87-90.Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-90).This thesis discusses the development of a software system and a collection of manipulatives that help young children, ages 7-10, learn about the core ideas behind the construction of mechanisms and the creation of mechanical motion. The software tool acts as a resource for children to access during their own building activities and provides a support structure for them to scaffold their knowledge of mechanisms and mechanical components. The software accounts for different learning styles, offering three distinct entrances into the system that overlap in content. Additionally, the software provides support for children to connect mechanisms with motions they observe in nature and their surroundings, and to post their own constructions for others to view in an online environment. In the thesis, I describe initial prototypes for the software environment and pre-built mechanisms. Primary observations of first and second grade children's investigations with these prototypes are documented and suggestions are made for further improvements to make the system more effective.by Michelle Leigh Shook.S.M

Application of LEGO Mindstorms Kits for Teaching Mechatronics Engineering

One of the major educators’ challenges is to teach the theoretical lessons with practical examples that can be taught in the classroom or teaching laboratories. The application of these examples will face a major problem for students in engineering: the difficulty of understanding and seeing how a mechatronic device works in everyday life. This requires the use of tools that enable the construction of different low cost prototypes to assist in student learning. Another challenge to educators is the need to motivate students during the lessons and to present models that students can make and develop on their own. Within this context this paper presents a pedagogic proposition based on the use of LEGO Mindstorms kits to teach practical lab activities in a mechatronics engineering course. The objective is to develop teaching methodologies with the use of these LEGO kits in order to motivate the students and also to promote a higher interdisciplinarity, by proposing projects that unify different disciplines. Thus, the paper is divided into three parts according to the educational experiences implemented in the course of mechatronics engineering at the Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. The first part presents the use of the kits in robotics discipline. The second part presents the use of the virtual kits in the Computer Aided Design discipline with zero-cost. The third part presents a multi-disciplinary project EDROM in mechatronics using LEGO kits

Wind Walking Machine

Design a machine that walks using wind power