Robust storage loading problems with stacking and payload constraints

We consider storage loading problems where items with uncertain weights have to be loaded into a storage area, taking into account stacking and payload constraints. Following the robust optimization paradigm, we propose strict and adjustable optimization models for finite and interval-based uncertainties. To solve these problems, exact decomposition and heuristic solution algorithms are developed. For strict robustness, we also propose a compact formulation based on a characterization of worst-case scenarios. Computational results for randomly generated data with up to 300 items are presented showing that the robustness concepts have different potential depending on the type of data being used

Systems design analysis applied to launch vehicle configuration

As emphasis shifts from optimum-performance aerospace systems to least lift-cycle costs, systems designs must seek, adapt, and innovate cost improvement techniques in design through operations. The systems design process of concept, definition, and design was assessed for the types and flow of total quality management techniques that may be applicable in a launch vehicle systems design analysis. Techniques discussed are task ordering, quality leverage, concurrent engineering, Pareto's principle, robustness, quality function deployment, criteria, and others. These cost oriented techniques are as applicable to aerospace systems design analysis as to any large commercial system

New solution approaches for the Train Load Planning Problem

The present paper faces the train load planning problem in container terminals. The problem consists of assigning containers to rail wagons while maximizing the total priority of the containers loaded and minimizing the number of rehandles executed in the terminal yard. Two diferent heuristic approaches, based on an innovative way to compute weight limitations and on two 0/1 integer programming models, are proposed and compared on the basis of specifc key performance indicators. The heuristic approaches are compared using random generated instances based on real-world data. An extensive computational analysis has been performed

Unmanned Research Raft

This document serves as the Final Design Review report for the design team conducting the research raft design project for Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). Our team has taken on a project to design a new research raft for LLNL. The current rafts are suitable, but engineers have modified and altered the rafts to add more features as needed. This has led to a raft that accomplishes mission goals, but still has room for streamlining. The battery technology has also improved. Our goals were to redesign the raft from the ground up, reducing the size and weight. We also wanted to incorporate some new method to increase raft density in the designated storage space. We underwent extensive customer and background research to begin the ideation design process with the goal of deciding a final design direction. After multiple phases of idea generation and refinement, we agreed on a stackable catamaran raft design with inflatable pontoons. Drawing from preliminary design evaluations, we felt confident that this initial design direction meets all our engineering specifications. After receiving approval and feedback from our sponsor, we began detailed design to work towards manufacturing a verification prototype. Our detailed design efforts led to a final design for the entire raft. Because of the expense of some components of the final design, we made modifications to manufacture a verification prototype with the resources we had and at a lower cost. These modifications included reducing the total amount of welding necessary for the frame and substituting expensive purchased components with cheaper options. We used the Cal Poly Machine Shops to manufacture the entire frame, and upon completion the raft was assembled. During and after assembly, we subjected the verification prototype to a variety of tests, to ensure the design met the previously defined engineering specifications. The tests included a raft assembly and deployment time test, a payload box waterproofing test, and an on-water speed test. The prototype passed most of these tests, and where it failed, we made some changes to ensure the integrity of the design. While ensuring that the design meets the specifications, the testing also provided insight into how and where the design could be improved. At the completion of the project, we shipped the raft and all its components to LLNL. It is our hope that they first use it as a first iteration, to improve portions of the design, and then to implement the design for their entire fleet of rafts. While this may take some time and capital investment to accomplish, we feel that our efforts have the potential to radically change Lawrence Livermore’s testing capabilities

Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)

This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time

Optimization in container liner shipping

We will give an overview of several decision problem encountered in liner shipping. We will cover problems on the strategic, tactical and operational planning levels as well as problems that can be considered at two planning levels simultaneously. Furthermore, we will shortly discuss some related problems in terminals, geographical bottlenecks for container ships and provide an overview of operations research methods used in liner shipping problems. Thereafter, the decision problems will be illustrated using a case study for six Indonesian ports

Chronology of KSC and KSC related events for 1993

This document is intended to serve as a record of KSC events and as a reference source for historians and other researchers. Arrangement is by day and month and individual articles are attributed to published sources. This edition has an index on p. 272

Working on the Boundaries: Philosophies and Practices of the Design Process

While systems engineering process is a program formal management technique and contractually binding, the design process is the informal practice of achieving the design project requirements throughout all design phases of the systems engineering process. The design process and organization are systems and component dependent. Informal reviews include technical information meetings and concurrent engineering sessions, and formal technical discipline reviews are conducted through the systems engineering process. This paper discusses and references major philosophical principles in the design process, identifies its role in interacting systems and disciplines analyses and integrations, and illustrates the process application in experienced aerostructural designs

Limpet II: A Modular, Untethered Soft Robot

The ability to navigate complex unstructured environments and carry out inspection tasks requires robots to be capable of climbing inclined surfaces and to be equipped with a sensor payload. These features are desirable for robots that are used to inspect and monitor offshore energy platforms. Existing climbing robots mostly use rigid actuators, and robots that use soft actuators are not fully untethered yet. Another major problem with current climbing robots is that they are not built in a modular fashion, which makes it harder to adapt the system to new tasks, to repair the system, and to replace and reconfigure modules. This work presents a 450 g and a 250 × 250 × 140 mm modular, untethered hybrid hard/soft robot—Limpet II. The Limpet II uses a hybrid electromagnetic module as its core module to allow adhesion and locomotion capabilities. The adhesion capability is based on negative pressure adhesion utilizing suction cups. The locomotion capability is based on slip-stick locomotion. The Limpet II also has a sensor payload with nine different sensing modalities, which can be used to inspect and monitor offshore structures and the conditions surrounding them. Since the Limpet II is designed as a modular system, the modules can be reconfigured to achieve multiple tasks. To demonstrate its potential for inspection of offshore platforms, we show that the Limpet II is capable of responding to different sensory inputs, repositioning itself within its environment, adhering to structures made of different materials, and climbing inclined surfaces