Our paper on a compact robot for precision weed management was the finalist in two best paper award categories: (1) Robot Mechanisms & Design and (2) Agri-Robotics. Four papers were selected in each category against a total of 1261 accepted papers (2801 papers submitted in total).
The authors were Yayun Du, Bhrugu Mallajosyula, Deming Sun, Jingyi Chen, Zihang Zhao, and Khalid Jawed of UCLA and Mukhlesur Rahman and Mohiuddin Quadir of North Dakota State University.
Paper on “Discrete Elasto-Plastic Rods” was published in Extreme Mechanics Letter.
Link to publication: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eml.2020.100767
Welcome Mrunmayi, Shivam, Yongkyu, and Zhuonan as new PhD students in our lab.
When two helical filaments ("flagella") rotate close to one another in a viscous fluid, they attract one another and form a bundle. Our work on simulation of this phenomenon has been published in Computers & Fluids. Link to the publication: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2021.105038
A video showcasing this work is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fxc6R34jEx8
Congratulations to Weicheng Huang on receiving the Harry M Showman Prize. Only one graduate student from the School of Engineering receives this award each year who most effectively communicate the achievements, research, results or social significance of any aspect of engineering to a student audience, the engineering professions, or the general public. A list of award winners is available on the commencement website: https://commencement.seas.ucla.edu/awards/
Congratulations to Weicheng Huang on receiving the Outstanding PhD Student in Mechanical Engineering Award. A list of award winners is available on the commencement website: https://commencement.seas.ucla.edu/awards/
A team of Virginia Tech and UCLA students won third place in the 2021 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC). MECC is managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Sangmin Lim and Vishal Kackar, both members of the Structures-Computer Interaction Laboratory, represented UCLA in this competition. Link to the news article.
We are delighted to receive the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This award of $700,000 will advance our work on “MaLPhySiCS - Machine Learning-assisted Physics-based Simulation and Control of Soft Robots” for the next five years. Link to the award on NSF’s website.
Congratulations to Dr. Weicheng Huang on successfully defending his PhD thesis on “Computational Methods in Slender Structures and Soft Robots”. Weicheng is the first student to receive a PhD from our group.
Paper on Vision and force based autonomous coating with rollers was featured by the 2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).
Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS45743.2020.9341619
This episode (links below) of IEEE RAS Robotics Podcast features a discussion between Khalid Jawed and Marwa ElDiwiny
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ieeeras-softrobotics/khalid-jawed-first-real-time-physics-engine-for-soft-robotics
iTunes: http://apple.co/342ehCv
Google Podcast: http://tiny.cc/vslsdz
Spotify: http://tiny.cc/mn2sez
Paper on Dynamic simulation of articulated soft robots was featured by Nature Communications.
Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15651-9
Paper on A discrete differential geometry-based approach to numerical simulation of Timoshenko beam was featured by Extreme Mechanics Letters.
Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eml.2019.100622
Paper on Numerical exploration on buckling instability for directional control in flagellar propulsion was featured by the Journal Soft Matter.
Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SM01843C
Paper on Newmark-Beta Method in Discrete Elastic Rods Algorithm to Avoid Energy Dissipation was featured by the Journal of Applied Mechanics.
Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4043793
Congratulations to Weicheng Huang on passing his PhD candidacy exam.
Sangmin Lim, Fadhel Alsaffar, Hossein Sharifazadeh, Dezhong Tong, Jacqueline Lam, and Javid Kaveh joined our lab.
Yayun Du and Longhui Qin joined our lab.
Our book "A Primer on the Kinematics of Discrete Elastic Rods" has been published. It is available free of charge to students through institutional subscription: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-76965-3
Keerthi Pradaa Balajee joined our lab