mechanical engineering - The University of Tulsa

mechanical engineering

New Student Organization, ARK: All Recesses of Knowledge

Students from TU's ARK listening to a speaker during their tour of fab lab TulsaARK was founded in fall 2021 by Vincent Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke (read about Vincent and his time at TU here). In an incredible first year, students in ARK led multiple initiatives and events for their peers, including:

● The inaugural Mechanical Engineering Celebration Dinner, featuring an inspiring speech from Chad Smith (TU ME, class of NN), along with dinner, desserts, and a senior send-off from Dr. Henshaw.

● Two Dine and Refine events, featuring Chad Smith from Airtech (TU BSME 1993) and Amanda Hawkins (TU BSME 2008 MSME 2010) to candidly share advice to students for their professional development, networking, and career advancement.

● A tour of the Erosion-Corrosion Research Center at North Campus.

● A welding tutorial at the McElroy Prototyping Laboratory, led by Mr. Dustin Donnell.

● The Mechanical Engineering Project Contest night, featuring dinner and a competition among multiple ME projects to showcase the talented work in the department.

TU ME 2022 Senior Projects

nasa rocket at launchpad at nightThe 2021-22 academic year was an outstanding one for senior projects. Steve Tipton and I, who have co-taught the senior projects course “forever,” define success in senior projects very simply as “a happy customer.” In 2021-22, we had 10 senior projects and 10 happy customers. Thanks to Steve Tipton’s hard work recruiting projects, five of our 10 projects were sponsored by companies: GasTech Engineering LLC (two projects), GD Energy (formerly Gardner Denver), Flight Safety International, and Total Valve. Other projects were sponsored by NASA, Tulsa Public Schools, Dr. William LePage of the TU ME department, and two other projects were sponsored internally by TU.

A tradition of our senior projects program is having the students vote on “Best Project.” This year’s Best Project winner was the NASA Rock Anchoring Device. The winning team started working on their project the summer before their senior year. They chose the most challenging of several projects NASA was sponsoring: to build a purely mechanical device that would anchor to rocks in microgravity without damaging the rocks and with the ability to resist a 10-pound force in any direction. The team built an extremely complex device that performed very well at the June 2022 demonstrations in NASA’s “Neutral Buoyancy Lab.” Dr. Tipton and I were blown away by this team’s utter dedication to their project and their never-say-die attitude!

Feature Student: Vincent Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke

Vincent Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke, TU ME class of 2023, speaking to an audience during a presentationVincent Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke’s last name is hard for some of us to pronounce, but that’s OK. Just mention the name “Vincent” and everyone in ME at TU knows exactly who you are talking about! Vincent is a rising ME senior at TU. Vincent is also a defensive lineman on the TU football team and recently created a new student organization called ARK to inspire excellence and professional development for his peers. You can read more about ARK here. Dr. William LePage and Vincent chatted about ARK and Vincent’s TU experiences this summer, and here’s what Vincent had to say.

Dr. William LePage: What made you decide to come to TU, and to major in mechanical engineering?

Vincent Nwagwu Ume-Ezeoke: I came to the University of Tulsa to major in Mechanical Engineering because Tulsa’s ME Department is world-renowned and still retains that small class size. Through this combination, I am able to get the help I need and build a real bond with these super-intelligent teachers.

WL: What motivated you to start ARK?

VNU: I started ARK because I wanted to give my peers a chance to experience some of the activities we may have missed out on due to Covid. After missing out on that semester and a half, I knew it was important for my class to re-strengthen our bonds as we would soon be entering my classes that needed us to work together and understand each other. Therefore, by building this organization I was able to give everyone a chance at further communication and more hands-on experience.

WL: What does ARK stand for?

VNU: ARK stands for All Recesses of Knowledge, this means that even though mechanical engineering is our foundation, we are looking toward spreading our roots to every discipline of education we can.

TU members of ARK stand outside of Tulsa's Fab Lab after a tourWL: What has been your proudest accomplishment for ARK so far?

VNU: The proudest Accomplishment would be the success of the Mechanical Engineering Celebration Dinner. It showed that different Mechanical Organizations can work together in union to hold a great event. Also seeing all of my graduating seniors one last time really touched my heart. Thank you for attending and we hope to see you there next year!

WL: What dreams do you have for ARK in the next year? 5 years?

VNU: Well my dream for ARK is extremely big right now, go big or go home right? So next year I want to use ARK to host TU’s first ENS fair. This way ENS students who are interested in joining clubs that have to do with their major can come and see exclusively that. A goal for the next 5 years would be to have the Mechanical Engineering Project Contest be an intercollegiate event. This means we would have projects from OSU, OU, Arkansas, etc., at the venue.

Honda’s Shoulder-Riding Robot Pal Aims To Make The Walk To School Safer For Kids

Honda’s Ropot, “a traffic-safety advice robot that attaches to the straps of a young child’s backpack”, seeks to make the journey to school safer for Japanese children.

https://jalopnik.com/hondas-shoulder-riding-robot-pal-aims-to-make-the-walk-1845795154

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.

World’s 1st Fully Autonomous Fruit-Picking Drones Are Smarter Than Humans

Agriculture is not immune to the increased automation of the workforce. An Israeli drone manufacturer completed it’s third round of funding and hopes to address the expected increase in demand for global fruit cultivation with their autonomous drones.

https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/israel-fruit-picking-drones-526246.html

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.

 

 

 

Researchers create robots that can transform their wheels into legs

Researchers at Texas A&M University, in conjunction with with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), are creating “mobile robots for military applications”. The robots can determine “whether wheels or legs are more suitable to travel across terrains”.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-robots-wheels-legs.html

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.

Augmented Reality Goggles for Military Working Dogs Could Transform Rescue Operations

“The U.S. Army is working on remote communication between handlers and their dogs.” The googles serve as visual indicators and will be used to provide “commands and cues” to the dogs.

https://www.engineering.com/ARVR/ArticleID/20835/Augmented-Reality-Goggles-for-Military-Working-Dogs-Could-Transform-Rescue-Operations.aspx

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.

Researchers develop versatile robotic fabric

“Researchers at Yale have developed a robotic fabric, a breakthrough that could lead to such innovations as adaptive clothing, self-deploying shelters, or lightweight shape-changing machinery.”

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-09-versatile-robotic-fabric.html

(Photo credit: Yale University)

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU. 

Ford Working with Bosch to Perfect a Fully Automated Parking System

The hassles of squeezing your car into a parking garage may become a thing of the past. Ford, Bosch, and Bedrock plan to bring their demonstration of automated valet parking to Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33808473/ford-bosch-automated-parking-pilot/

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU. 

Soft Robotics raises $23 million from investors for a “softer touch”

Soft Robotics works to develop soft robotics which could be used for robots that handle materials that require a softer touch.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/20/soft-robotics-raises-23-million-from-investors-including-industrial-robot-giant-fanuc/

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.  

 

The NOVA Fellowship at The University of Tulsa (TU) has a mission to build and support the culture of innovation on campus and in our communities. We do this by providing small grants to help innovative student projects, faculty involved in innovative programs, and curating content related to current trends and recent developments in technology and innovation. This content includes topics relevant to the entire campus, including health sciences, economics, arts management, biology, computer science, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), communication, engineering, and global issues. Because NOVA students are studying in a variety of TU majors, our interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is one of our great strengths.

NOVA also helps provide training to students and faculty in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We offer training on the TU campus in meetings and workshops, and through an exciting partnership with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Every year since 2015, NOVA has sent several TU students and faculty to Stanford for 4-5 days of training with experts and interaction with fellow scholars from around the world. The student program is University Innovation Fellows (www.universityinnovationfellows.org) and the program for faculty is the Teaching and Learning Studio Faculty Workshop (http://universityinnovationfellows.org/teachingandlearningstudio/).

In these ways, NOVA exposes TU faculty, staff, and students to many processes and tools used in modern companies related to creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of these is “design thinking.” It is one of the most well-known problem-solving approaches used around the world today, used to develop concepts for new products, buildings, machines, toys, healthcare services, social enterprises, and more. According to the people who developed this tool, Dave Kelley and Tim Brown of the design firm, IDEO:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…. Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” (https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking)

As the innovation field develops, new perspectives are emerging. One promising approach we are beginning to bring into NOVA meetings and workshops is called “systems thinking,” which builds upon the emergent field of complexity research. Systems thinking recognizes the inherent interactivity of the dynamic processes in our world and focuses on problem-solving with that complexity in mind. This approach isn’t completely new, but recent work has made systems thinking more accessible to people interested in solving problems of most any type. For example, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D. (Cornell University) has proposed a useful taxonomy designed to improve systems thinking called DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives). He defines it as: “The recursive distinguishing of things and their interrelationships and part-whole organization from various perspectives” (https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/what-is-a-system-what-is-systems-thinking). Elsewhere, DSRP has been described as a particular way to think about problems, and that the use of these four patterns notably improves people’s problem-solving abilities – demonstrated in sessions with Kindergartners all the way to CEOs. The complex, adaptive mental models that are formed during systems thinking attempt to identify the most approachable and simplest explanations for phenomena. In his book with Laura Cabrera, Systems Thinking Made Simple, examples of the simplicity that drives complexity include: the interaction of CMYK colors in our world, the amazing biodiversity derived from combinations of DNA’s core nucleotides ATCG, the fundamentals of martial arts which practitioners use together to improvise during sparring matches, the almost infinite variety of models that can be built with modular Lego blocks, and the billions of possible moves in a chess match with just 6 unique pieces.

We invite you to join us and collaborate as we learn more about effective ways to solve problems that you and others care about in the community, in corporations, and on campus! Please visit www.novafellowship.org or email Dr. Charles M. Wood, Professor of Marketing at TU: charles-wood@utulsa.edu.

 

Construction Completed on Largest 3D-Printed Building in the World

Dubai boasts the largest 3D-printed building.

https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/construction-completed-on-largest-3d-printed-building-in-the-world/

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.  

 

The NOVA Fellowship at The University of Tulsa (TU) has a mission to build and support the culture of innovation on campus and in our communities. We do this by providing small grants to help innovative student projects, faculty involved in innovative programs, and curating content related to current trends and recent developments in technology and innovation. This content includes topics relevant to the entire campus, including health sciences, economics, arts management, biology, computer science, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), communication, engineering, and global issues. Because NOVA students are studying in a variety of TU majors, our interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is one of our great strengths.

NOVA also helps provide training to students and faculty in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We offer training on the TU campus in meetings and workshops, and through an exciting partnership with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Every year since 2015, NOVA has sent several TU students and faculty to Stanford for 4-5 days of training with experts and interaction with fellow scholars from around the world. The student program is University Innovation Fellows (www.universityinnovationfellows.org) and the program for faculty is the Teaching and Learning Studio Faculty Workshop (http://universityinnovationfellows.org/teachingandlearningstudio/).

In these ways, NOVA exposes TU faculty, staff, and students to many processes and tools used in modern companies related to creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of these is “design thinking.” It is one of the most well-known problem-solving approaches used around the world today, used to develop concepts for new products, buildings, machines, toys, healthcare services, social enterprises, and more. According to the people who developed this tool, Dave Kelley and Tim Brown of the design firm, IDEO:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…. Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” (https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking)

As the innovation field develops, new perspectives are emerging. One promising approach we are beginning to bring into NOVA meetings and workshops is called “systems thinking,” which builds upon the emergent field of complexity research. Systems thinking recognizes the inherent interactivity of the dynamic processes in our world and focuses on problem-solving with that complexity in mind. This approach isn’t completely new, but recent work has made systems thinking more accessible to people interested in solving problems of most any type. For example, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D. (Cornell University) has proposed a useful taxonomy designed to improve systems thinking called DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives). He defines it as: “The recursive distinguishing of things and their interrelationships and part-whole organization from various perspectives” (https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/what-is-a-system-what-is-systems-thinking). Elsewhere, DSRP has been described as a particular way to think about problems, and that the use of these four patterns notably improves people’s problem-solving abilities – demonstrated in sessions with Kindergartners all the way to CEOs. The complex, adaptive mental models that are formed during systems thinking attempt to identify the most approachable and simplest explanations for phenomena. In his book with Laura Cabrera, Systems Thinking Made Simple, examples of the simplicity that drives complexity include: the interaction of CMYK colors in our world, the amazing biodiversity derived from combinations of DNA’s core nucleotides ATCG, the fundamentals of martial arts which practitioners use together to improvise during sparring matches, the almost infinite variety of models that can be built with modular Lego blocks, and the billions of possible moves in a chess match with just 6 unique pieces.

We invite you to join us and collaborate as we learn more about effective ways to solve problems that you and others care about in the community, in corporations, and on campus! Please visit www.novafellowship.org or email Dr. Charles M. Wood, Professor of Marketing at TU: charles-wood@utulsa.edu.

 

 

Aptiv’s self-driving cars have given 100,000 paid rides on Lyft app

Robotaxi fleets might be a distant-future reality. Aptiv’s self-driving cars have given 100,000 paid rides on the Lyft app.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/11/aptivs-self-driving-cars-have-given-100000-paid-rides-on-the-lyft-app/

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.  

 

The NOVA Fellowship at The University of Tulsa (TU) has a mission to build and support the culture of innovation on campus and in our communities. We do this by providing small grants to help innovative student projects, faculty involved in innovative programs, and curating content related to current trends and recent developments in technology and innovation. This content includes topics relevant to the entire campus, including health sciences, economics, arts management, biology, computer science, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), communication, engineering, and global issues. Because NOVA students are studying in a variety of TU majors, our interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is one of our great strengths.

NOVA also helps provide training to students and faculty in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We offer training on the TU campus in meetings and workshops, and through an exciting partnership with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Every year since 2015, NOVA has sent several TU students and faculty to Stanford for 4-5 days of training with experts and interaction with fellow scholars from around the world. The student program is University Innovation Fellows (www.universityinnovationfellows.org) and the program for faculty is the Teaching and Learning Studio Faculty Workshop (http://universityinnovationfellows.org/teachingandlearningstudio/).

In these ways, NOVA exposes TU faculty, staff, and students to many processes and tools used in modern companies related to creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of these is “design thinking.” It is one of the most well-known problem-solving approaches used around the world today, used to develop concepts for new products, education, buildings, machines, toys, healthcare services, social enterprises, and more. According to the people who developed this tool, Dave Kelley and Tim Brown of the design firm, IDEO:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…. Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” (https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking)

As the innovation field develops, new perspectives are emerging. One promising approach we are beginning to bring into NOVA meetings and workshops is called “systems thinking,” which builds upon the emergent field of complexity research. Systems thinking recognizes the inherent interactivity of the dynamic processes in our world and focuses on problem-solving with that complexity in mind. This approach isn’t completely new, but recent work has made systems thinking more accessible to people interested in solving problems of most any type. For example, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D. (Cornell University) has proposed a useful taxonomy designed to improve systems thinking called DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives). He defines it as: “The recursive distinguishing of things and their interrelationships and part-whole organization from various perspectives” (https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/what-is-a-system-what-is-systems-thinking). Elsewhere, DSRP has been described as a particular way to think about problems, and that the use of these four patterns notably improves people’s problem-solving abilities – demonstrated in sessions with Kindergartners all the way to CEOs. The complex, adaptive mental models that are formed during systems thinking attempt to identify the most approachable and simplest explanations for phenomena. In his book with Laura Cabrera, Systems Thinking Made Simple, examples of the simplicity that drives complexity include: the interaction of CMYK colors in our world, the amazing biodiversity derived from combinations of DNA’s core nucleotides ATCG, the fundamentals of martial arts which practitioners use together to improvise during sparring matches, the almost infinite variety of models that can be built with modular Lego blocks, and the billions of possible moves in a chess match with just 6 unique pieces.

We invite you to join us and collaborate as we learn more about effective ways to solve problems that you and others care about in the community, in corporations, and on campus! Please visit www.novafellowship.org or email Dr. Charles M. Wood, Professor of Marketing at TU: charles-wood@utulsa.edu.

 

Porsche’s glasses connect service techs with factory in real time

Porsche uses AI glasses to connect dealership service technicians to their technical support team.The glasses allow the factory experts to actually see the problem in real time.

https://www.autonews.com/fixed-ops-journal/porsches-glasses-connect-service-techs-factory-real-time?TrucksFoT&

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU. 

 

The NOVA Fellowship at The University of Tulsa (TU) has a mission to build and support the culture of innovation on campus and in our communities. We do this by providing small grants to help innovative student projects, faculty involved in innovative programs, and curating content related to current trends and recent developments in technology and innovation. This content includes topics relevant to the entire campus, including health sciences, economics, arts management, biology, computer science, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), communication, engineering, and global issues. Because NOVA students are studying in a variety of TU majors, our interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is one of our great strengths.

NOVA also helps provide training to students and faculty in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We offer training on the TU campus in meetings and workshops, and through an exciting partnership with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Every year since 2015, NOVA has sent several TU students and faculty to Stanford for 4-5 days of training with experts and interaction with fellow scholars from around the world. The student program is University Innovation Fellows (www.universityinnovationfellows.org) and the program for faculty is the Teaching and Learning Studio Faculty Workshop (http://universityinnovationfellows.org/teachingandlearningstudio/).

In these ways, NOVA exposes TU faculty, staff, and students to many processes and tools used in modern companies related to creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of these is “design thinking.” It is one of the most well-known problem-solving approaches used around the world today, used to develop concepts for new products, education, buildings, machines, toys, healthcare services, social enterprises, and more. According to the people who developed this tool, Dave Kelley and Tim Brown of the design firm, IDEO:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…. Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” (https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking)

As the innovation field develops, new perspectives are emerging. One promising approach we are beginning to bring into NOVA meetings and workshops is called “systems thinking,” which builds upon the emergent field of complexity research. Systems thinking recognizes the inherent interactivity of the dynamic processes in our world and focuses on problem-solving with that complexity in mind. This approach isn’t completely new, but recent work has made systems thinking more accessible to people interested in solving problems of most any type. For example, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D. (Cornell University) has proposed a useful taxonomy designed to improve systems thinking called DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives). He defines it as: “The recursive distinguishing of things and their interrelationships and part-whole organization from various perspectives” (https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/what-is-a-system-what-is-systems-thinking). Elsewhere, DSRP has been described as a particular way to think about problems, and that the use of these four patterns notably improves people’s problem-solving abilities – demonstrated in sessions with Kindergartners all the way to CEOs. The complex, adaptive mental models that are formed during systems thinking attempt to identify the most approachable and simplest explanations for phenomena. In his book with Laura Cabrera, Systems Thinking Made Simple, examples of the simplicity that drives complexity include: the interaction of CMYK colors in our world, the amazing biodiversity derived from combinations of DNA’s core nucleotides ATCG, the fundamentals of martial arts which practitioners use together to improvise during sparring matches, the almost infinite variety of models that can be built with modular Lego blocks, and the billions of possible moves in a chess match with just 6 unique pieces.

We invite you to join us and collaborate as we learn more about effective ways to solve problems that you and others care about in the community, in corporations, and on campus! Please visit www.novafellowship.org or email Dr. Charles M. Wood, Professor of Marketing at TU: charles-wood@utulsa.edu.

 

Volvo, Daimler to found truck fuel cell joint venture

Volvo and the truck division of Daimler announce a joint venture to make hydrogen fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles. 

https://apnews.com/b13cc8d640582cffef1abc0e60f1f3fc

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU. 

 

The NOVA Fellowship at The University of Tulsa (TU) has a mission to build and support the culture of innovation on campus and in our communities. We do this by providing small grants to help innovative student projects, faculty involved in innovative programs, and curating content related to current trends and recent developments in technology and innovation. This content includes topics relevant to the entire campus, including health sciences, economics, arts management, biology, computer science, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), communication, engineering, and global issues. Because NOVA students are studying in a variety of TU majors, our interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is one of our great strengths.

NOVA also helps provide training to students and faculty in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We offer training on the TU campus in meetings and workshops, and through an exciting partnership with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Every year since 2015, NOVA has sent several TU students and faculty to Stanford for 4-5 days of training with experts and interaction with fellow scholars from around the world. The student program is University Innovation Fellows (www.universityinnovationfellows.org) and the program for faculty is the Teaching and Learning Studio Faculty Workshop (http://universityinnovationfellows.org/teachingandlearningstudio/).

In these ways, NOVA exposes TU faculty, staff, and students to many processes and tools used in modern companies related to creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of these is “design thinking.” It is one of the most well-known problem-solving approaches used around the world today, used to develop concepts for new products, education, buildings, machines, toys, healthcare services, social enterprises, and more. According to the people who developed this tool, Dave Kelley and Tim Brown of the design firm, IDEO:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…. Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” (https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking)

As the innovation field develops, new perspectives are emerging. One promising approach we are beginning to bring into NOVA meetings and workshops is called “systems thinking,” which builds upon the emergent field of complexity research. Systems thinking recognizes the inherent interactivity of the dynamic processes in our world and focuses on problem-solving with that complexity in mind. This approach isn’t completely new, but recent work has made systems thinking more accessible to people interested in solving problems of most any type. For example, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D. (Cornell University) has proposed a useful taxonomy designed to improve systems thinking called DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives). He defines it as: “The recursive distinguishing of things and their interrelationships and part-whole organization from various perspectives” (https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/what-is-a-system-what-is-systems-thinking). Elsewhere, DSRP has been described as a particular way to think about problems, and that the use of these four patterns notably improves people’s problem-solving abilities – demonstrated in sessions with Kindergartners all the way to CEOs. The complex, adaptive mental models that are formed during systems thinking attempt to identify the most approachable and simplest explanations for phenomena. In his book with Laura Cabrera, Systems Thinking Made Simple, examples of the simplicity that drives complexity include: the interaction of CMYK colors in our world, the amazing biodiversity derived from combinations of DNA’s core nucleotides ATCG, the fundamentals of martial arts which practitioners use together to improvise during sparring matches, the almost infinite variety of models that can be built with modular Lego blocks, and the billions of possible moves in a chess match with just 6 unique pieces.

We invite you to join us and collaborate as we learn more about effective ways to solve problems that you and others care about in the community, in corporations, and on campus! Please visit www.novafellowship.org or email Dr. Charles M. Wood, Professor of Marketing at TU: charles-wood@utulsa.edu.

 

The world’s first 3D-printed neighborhood is being built in Mexico for families living on $3 a day

Nonprofit, New Story, builds first 3D-printed neighborhood in Mexico. The homes are built for low-income families living in an area prone to flooding. 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/business/worlds-first-3d-printed-neighborhood-trnd/index.html

This blog is a project of the NOVA Fellowship at TU.  

 

The NOVA Fellowship at The University of Tulsa (TU) has a mission to build and support the culture of innovation on campus and in our communities. We do this by providing small grants to help innovative student projects, faculty involved in innovative programs, and curating content related to current trends and recent developments in technology and innovation. This content includes topics relevant to the entire campus, including health sciences, economics, arts management, biology, computer science, finance, artificial intelligence (AI), communication, engineering, and global issues. Because NOVA students are studying in a variety of TU majors, our interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving is one of our great strengths.

NOVA also helps provide training to students and faculty in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We offer training on the TU campus in meetings and workshops, and through an exciting partnership with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Every year since 2015, NOVA has sent several TU students and faculty to Stanford for 4-5 days of training with experts and interaction with fellow scholars from around the world. The student program is University Innovation Fellows (www.universityinnovationfellows.org) and the program for faculty is the Teaching and Learning Studio Faculty Workshop (http://universityinnovationfellows.org/teachingandlearningstudio/).

In these ways, NOVA exposes TU faculty, staff, and students to many processes and tools used in modern companies related to creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. One of these is “design thinking.” It is one of the most well-known problem-solving approaches used around the world today, used to develop concepts for new products, education, buildings, machines, toys, healthcare services, social enterprises, and more. According to the people who developed this tool, Dave Kelley and Tim Brown of the design firm, IDEO:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success…. Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy. This approach, which IDEO calls design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.” (https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking)

As the innovation field develops, new perspectives are emerging. One promising approach we are beginning to bring into NOVA meetings and workshops is called “systems thinking,” which builds upon the emergent field of complexity research. Systems thinking recognizes the inherent interactivity of the dynamic processes in our world and focuses on problem-solving with that complexity in mind. This approach isn’t completely new, but recent work has made systems thinking more accessible to people interested in solving problems of most any type. For example, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D. (Cornell University) has proposed a useful taxonomy designed to improve systems thinking called DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives). He defines it as: “The recursive distinguishing of things and their interrelationships and part-whole organization from various perspectives” (https://blog.cabreraresearch.org/what-is-a-system-what-is-systems-thinking). Elsewhere, DSRP has been described as a particular way to think about problems, and that the use of these four patterns notably improves people’s problem-solving abilities – demonstrated in sessions with Kindergartners all the way to CEOs. The complex, adaptive mental models that are formed during systems thinking attempt to identify the most approachable and simplest explanations for phenomena. In his book with Laura Cabrera, Systems Thinking Made Simple, examples of the simplicity that drives complexity include: the interaction of CMYK colors in our world, the amazing biodiversity derived from combinations of DNA’s core nucleotides ATCG, the fundamentals of martial arts which practitioners use together to improvise during sparring matches, the almost infinite variety of models that can be built with modular Lego blocks, and the billions of possible moves in a chess match with just 6 unique pieces.

We invite you to join us and collaborate as we learn more about effective ways to solve problems that you and others care about in the community, in corporations, and on campus! Please visit www.novafellowship.org or email Dr. Charles M. Wood, Professor of Marketing at TU: charles-wood@utulsa.edu.

 

MADE at TU: Pedal power that makes a difference

MADE at TUSister and brother team Lydia and Barrett Moore had some special requests when they consulted with University of Tulsa mechanical engineering students last fall — no pink for Lydia’s customized bicycle and Barrett wanted a train theme for his personalized ride. Both Lydia and her brother were born with congenital limb differences in their arms and hands that make it difficult to ride a standard bicycle, so students from TU’s Make a Difference Engineering (MADE at TU) group took on the project to build, test and deliver bikes that cater to the kids’ individual needs. 

The thrill of the ride 

MADE at TUBeginning in October, students met with the children, father, Bryson, and mother, Mandy, executive director of the TU Student Success Team, to discuss bike modifications. MADE at TU’s priorities included complying with engineering specifications and standards to ensure the bicycles were functional and safe. “The bikes needed to be visible to car drivers, rideable on uneven pavement and most importantly, future proof so they can continue to use the bikes as they grow,” said mechanical engineering senior and team leader Anna Williams. 

MADE at TU brainstormed ideas and narrowed them down to the most viable options. During the spring semester, the group met with the Moore family once a week to test new prototypes of the 3D-printed handlebar attachments and gain valuable feedback that could improve the design. The children’s enthusiasm was hard to contain as they tried out the latest changes. “We loved getting to know the family and see Lydia and Barrett’s confidence and skills develop from week to week,” Williams stated. “It is amazing to know something you helped design and create is bringing joy to a family.” 

MADE at TUOnce the TU group finalized the most effective prototype, they made permanent modifications to the shiny new bikes for their official debut. Williams said watching the brother and sister happily ride their bikes was the ultimate approval. “It is rewarding to see the impact of our designs as this is not always an opportunity available to university students,” she explained. “It is rare to transform theory into reality at the university level, and the positive opinions of Barrett and Lydia were the ultimate grade.” 

Lydia and Barrett’s mother, Mandy, explained how important it was for the children to be independent and ride bikes like their friends. When Lydia set a goal was to ride a bike without training wheels, her parents quickly realized she and her brother would need a prosthetic or adaptive bike to help them achieve this childhood milestone. “It was such a moving experience to see so many bright minds apply their mechanical engineering expertise to help our children,” Mandy commented. “We owe the joy on Lydia’s face the first time she rode her bike without training wheels to the students at TU. I’ve worked in higher education for 14 years. I’ve never met a more prepared, professional, and kind group of students. They not only built our kids these amazing bikes, but they also made them feel cared for.” 

Skills for a lifetime 

MADE at TUWilliams, a TU soccer player, says she hopes to continue working on projects where she can apply lessons from daily life and college to help people enjoy lifelong skills. She plans to return to TU for a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and work in one of the department’s research laboratories. “As a TU athlete, I know the value of sports and activities that can help you develop friendships and abilities,” she said. 

Fellow mechanical engineering seniors Suzy Evenson, Victoria Tucker, Michael Harris, Jennifer Smith, Sulaiman Alshammari, Cole Ogg, Mohammed Al Abattahin and Ajwad Al-Essa joined Williams on the project. The MADE at TU challenge provided these students with real-world problem-solving that they will all encounter in their future graduate programs and careers. 

MADE at TUThe freedom and joy felt when riding a bike is a rite of passage every child should have the chance to experience. Lydia and Barrett are now the proud owners of custom wheels designed specifically for their needs and fun personalities. 

New $1.9M NSF grant supports soft robotics research 

Imagine a search and rescue situation where a robot combs through rubble to save a trapped individual or an agile robot is administered to detonate a bomb. The machines ideal for these types of scenarios are soft robots that can be built with a higher level of mobility at a much lower cost. Soft robots hold enormous potential to save lives and improve manufacturing, and the TU Department of Mechanical Engineering is adding this type of project to its current list of research initiatives.

More about the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Just announced with an official start date of January 2020, a National Science Foundation Emerging Frontiers & Multidisciplinary Activities grant worth $1.9 million has been awarded to Associate Professor Joshua Schultz and his biological robotics team. The NSF funding is the largest award Schultz has received in his career as a principal investigator and will support efforts to improve the mobility and control of fabric-reinforced inflatable soft robots. When applying for the grant, Schultz recruited the expertise of materials scientist and TU Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Michael Keller. Schultz and Keller are teaming up with two co-principal investigators from Brigham Young University: Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Marc Killpack and Assistant Professor of Computer Science David Wingate. Schultz said robots built at TU and soft robotics research underway at BYU will explore functions and capabilities that aren’t possible in traditional models. “Soft robots can bump, scrape and push against the world,” he explained. “They can accomplish tasks by running into a wall on purpose and then using the wall to support itself when it reaches for something.”

Autonomous robots

soft robotics
Professor Joshua Schultz

The concept of soft robotics also involves devices that can reach under a door to retrieve an item, entwine objects or squeeze into a small gap between a door that’s ajar. Soft robots can conform to features in an unknown environment and change shape, and when they collide with another object, neither the robot nor the other item is damaged. Equipping the device with smart technology allows it to detect that contact occurred and behave intelligently to complete the task. “We are trying to make these robots autonomous, so they can operate on their own without a human continuously issuing commands in real-time,” Schultz said. “Previous soft robots needed the ingenuity of a human to complete the tasks that the robot was doing. We will use new mathematical models, smart materials and sensors, and machine learning, so that robots can do the task autonomously without supervision by a human.”

The faculty plan to host graduate students at both TU and BYU to assist with the project and add a TU post-doctoral fellow to conduct research in kinematics and materials science. For the next four years, the group will focus on developing concise models for the motions of a fabric-reinforced rubber tube that can be evaluated quickly by a computer. Schultz described the device as an arm made of silicone. One side of the arm is made from a fabric similar to the canvas of a tent while the other is constructed of a more flexible material. The arm’s fabric can set up, bend, move and fold, but it won’t stretch. As the arm inflates, the stretchy side stretches but the fabric side will only bend. “As this robot is made, it can only trace out one path in space,” Schultz explained. “It can’t reach robotics workspace, but we want the robot to be pear, ring or cone in shape — we want it to have some volume in which it can reach everywhere inside its range of motion.”

Adapting to workspace with smart technology

Keller and Schultz are experimenting with materials that can be patched to the arm and communicate with a computer. By turning on one patch or a combination of patches at different times, the arm’s wall stiffness will change and expand its potential workspace. “The robot will be able to reach in some useful volume to do tasks, so that’s progress in the device functioning like a robot instead of just a conversation piece,” Schultz said.

Once the robot can reach a given volume, it must move to a specific spot within that space, so controlling movement and alleviating bounce from the stretchy material is key. Schultz and Keller hope to change the stiffness and inflation of the robot’s walls in a way that if it is bumped and begins to bounce, they can stop the interference and smoothly move it to pick up something or move against something. “Robotics is used in all kinds of industries, but the reason robots are limited in their application is because they can easily bump into something, and they lack dexterity to do a task,” Schultz explained.

Scientists and engineers have successfully demonstrated soft robotics designs in the past but adding the component of smart technology poses a challenge. Schultz said the elastomeric materials of soft robots allow for many sensors to be molded into the robot to measure touch, proximity and the shape of objects. If successful, the project will produce improved algorithms to process sensor inputs and enable the robot to distill them into meaningful information about itself and the world. Schultz said that while the designs they plan to develop are technologically advanced, they are financially feasible. “An industrial robot might cost upwards of $20,000, and you have to make a big purchase before you can find out if it suits your company’s needs,” he said. “Soft robots are more like disposable income — they’re made from pretty inexpensive materials.”

Overcoming challenges with soft robotics

Basic models developed by the team will present an algorithm that will configure a variety of possible shapes for the robot at each instant. Data gathered by the platforms will help the soft robot learn how to select the appropriate commands, which include the combinations of pneumatic valve signals and tunable stiffness patches in the rubber walls, to autonomously complete useful tasks where the robot must push on the environment.

“We want our robot to be able to overcome challenges like hanging drywall and reaching into clutter amongst trees, tall grass, rocks or debris to bend around anything in its path,” Schultz said.

To learn more about biological robotics at The University of Tulsa, please contact Professor Schultz at joshua-schultz@utulsa.edu.

NSF-funded robotics project helps children with hypotonia at Little Light House

Members of the Biological Robotics at Tulsa (BRAT) Research Group in The University of Tulsa’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, are studying the muscle condition hypotonia to improve the quality of life for children who suffer from it. Graduate student Bradford Kerst and Joshua Schultz, an associate professor and BRAT group director, partnered with teachers and therapists at Little Light House in Tulsa to learn how hypotonia reduces muscle tone and strength. Their research is sponsored by a grant from the Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering program at the National Science Foundation and is TU’s first nationally funded project in rehabilitation robotics.

Understanding hypotonia

Kerst said he and Schultz are beginning the final phase of data collection through a device that supports a child’s head and is worn by Little Light House students who experience weak neck muscles as a result of hypotonia. Known commercially as a Headpod, the device holds a child’s head in a neutral posture. Current therapy for hypotonia involves supporting a child’s head from a lightweight suspension frame using a cable and head strap, but TU researchers plan to build a robotic prototype that relinquishes a portion of the support when a child does not need it. This will allow therapists to program a regimen that trains neck muscles in the hope that strength development will enable children to hold up their heads on their own.

“We will use a motion capture system and the initial data gathered to pick out the right motor size for the device, and we’re working with therapists to determine what safety features we need,” Kerst explained.

Little Light House students who have worn the data-capturing Headpod so far have been able to access switches near their head to activate a switch-adapted power wheels truck. Lynda Crouch, assistive technology coordinator at Little Light House, also explained that, in some instances, the Headpod device has been attached to a stander. “Because of the support of the Headpod, we can see secondary results of increased visual attention and social interaction with other students. Their heads are supported in an upright position to see their world. Without the Headpod, they keep their head down or we have to position them reclined in wheelchairs.”

Robotics to the rescue

With mentoring from Schultz, Kerst and an undergraduate researcher who will be added to the TU team this fall will develop biomechanical computer models to program the device’s robotic support system. The project is Kerst’s first exposure to robotics research and has piqued his interest in a career that uses rehabilitation robotics to improve head control.

“Our goal is to understand hypotonia and learn new information about the disorder that we can use in the future to help people,” he said. “It’s been overlooked in a lot of research, so it’s something Professor Schultz and the therapists discussed and saw a need to study.”

As researchers complete the final phase of data collection, Little Light House therapists anticipate a TU design that will improve head positioning for students and allow them to participate fully in daily classroom activities.

“We already knew our students were special, but this research has shown us how unique and incredible they are,” said Crouch. “We’re learning how important it is to capture data that reflects what we as therapists and teachers observe in daily interactions with the children.”

TU faculty and students have a long history of working closely with the Little Light House. Schultz and Kerst meet bi-weekly with the school’s staff to incorporate problem-solving, strategic planning and engineering applications into the plan for a therapeutic device.

Once data collection is complete, Schultz and his team of student researchers will build a prototype that they plan to begin testing in 2020.

Keller and McLaury awarded project to research pipeline repair

The projects will investigate composite repairs of critical aging infrastructure

TU Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Michael Keller has been awarded two competitive research awards from the Pipeline Heath and Safety Administration (PHMSA), a division of the Department of Transportation, to perform research on composite repairs of piping. Both projects will investigate the performance of bonded composite repairs on pipes that contain damage in the form of holes through the pipe wall. One project relates to the performance of patch-type repairs under fluctuating pressure loads. For the second project, Dr. Keller will partner with TU Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Brenton McLaury to investigate what happens to composite repairs as the pipe is subjected to the erosive effects of sand particles flowing through the pipe. Both projects are supported by PHMSA and by industry partners, including Citadel Technologies, Air Logistics, and Neptune Research.