University of Arkansas Technology Ventures’ Post

Physics simulation is the key to mastering two critical principles in engineering: - doing things right and - doing the right things. Without simulation, you may still do things right but it is difficult to embrace big change to do the right things, especially if there's an established engineering history and successful market. This is why the industry corporations tend to be incremental and why tech companies are more disruptive. (Christensens S curve) Simulation allows you to explore a vast design space, test unconventional ideas, and foster early interdisciplinary collaboration on new concepts that then can get funding also inside established industry corporations. By also considering sensor systems and AI control in your engineering problem, the design space expands exponentially. Relying solely on physical prototypes *will* constrain you to incremental development, hindering the essential disruptive changes most likely needed. Do you know of any good examples when industry corporations have been successful in disruptive innovation, even though it might have cannibalized on their established products?

Harvard Professor Katia Bertoldi and Adel Djellouli, Ph. D, along with a team of researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, have developed a programmable metafluid that could be used in everything from hydraulic actuators to program robots, to intelligent shock absorbers that can dissipate energy depending on the intensity of the impact, to optical devices that can transition from clear to opaque. Using a highly scalable fabrication technique developed in the lab of SEAS Professor David Weitz, the metafluid uses a suspension of small, elastomer spheres that buckle under pressure, radically changing the characteristics of the fluid. OTD has protected the #intellectualproperty associated with this research and is exploring #commercialization opportunities. https://lnkd.in/eUbvDbUp

Recently, Professor Zhang Wenming's team from the School of Mechanical and Power Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University published a research paper titled "Hierarchically Reconfigurable Soft Robots with Reprogrammable Multimodal Actuation" in Advanced Functional Materials. This study introduces a hierarchical reconfigurable strategy for soft robots for the first time and reveals the mechanism of multimodal movement guided by elasticity through simulations, theory, and experiments. This design strategy overcomes the previous limitation of modular soft robots, which had fixed movement modes, and elevates the modular design approach to a higher dimension.🎉 🎉 🎉 🔗：https://lnkd.in/gYwW3ZtF #SJTUResearch

🚀 I am excited to share that my latest research paper, “Design Considerations and Applications of Shape Memory Alloy-Based Actuation in Morphing Structures: A Systematic Review,” has just been published in Progress in Engineering Science by Elsevier! In this paper, we: - Examine the innovative integration of SMAs into smart composites. - Discuss crucial design trade-offs and manufacturing challenges. - Highlight applications across diverse sectors, including aerospace, automotive, and soft robotics. As the field of smart materials evolves, our findings aim to inspire further exploration and innovation in SMA-based morphing technologies. #ShapeMemoryAlloys #EngineeringInnovation #SmartComposites #MorphingStructures

I really enjoyed chatting with Chris Enke – a true mass spec living legend. As I'm sure many of you will know, Chris co-invented the triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in the late 1970s. Today, his is still pondering solutions to big problems – in mass spectrometry, but also in the philosophy of science (check out his blog The Science We Trust, linked in the article). Here are a couple of quotes from the article: “I think innovation comes from imagination. And imagination is wondering why – and using all of your background, resources, and experience you have to answer your question." "Science itself is driven by skepticism. Explanations are, by and large, tentative analogies – and scientists themselves shouldn’t become dogmatically attached to them. And sometimes, the best ideas come from outside of an echo chamber.” And here's the link: https://lnkd.in/eDSTFGux

Thinking outside the box, exploring new perspectives, and embracing curiosity are essential components of successful engineering research. Engineering transcends mere numbers and equations; it is profoundly driven by creative and inspirational processes. These elements are vital for conducting research, solving complex problems, and generating insightful, innovative ideas. Collaborative efforts with experts from diverse fields can further ignite creativity and lead to unexpected, transformative breakthroughs. Ultimately, the willingness to take risks and experiment with unconventional approaches is key to driving progress in engineering research. Embracing creativity and innovative thinking enables engineers to revolutionize industries and make significant, enduring impacts on society. #Innovation #Research #Robotics

💧 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭’𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐞? 🤔 💡 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 a material that’s nearly indestructible yet shatters instantly under the right conditions? Meet the Prince Rupert’s Drop, a scientific marvel that showcases the fascinating intersection of science, creativity, and p𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭’𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐩? 🔮 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐝ropping molten glass into cold water, the rapid cooling forms a tadpole-shaped structure.  🧠 Key Properties:   Unbreakable Bulbous Head: Withstands immense pressure due to extreme compression forces locked inside the glass.  Fragile Tail: Tap the tail, and the entire structure shatters explosively due to the release of internal stress.  The Science Behind the Drop 🌡️ Rapid Cooling:  The outer layer cools faster than the inner core, creating extreme compressive stress on the surface.  This stress gives the head its unparalleled strength.  💥 Stress Distribution:  The delicate tail acts as a weak point. When disturbed, it triggers a chain reaction that releases the stored energy, causing the drop to shatter.  Formula for Stress Dynamics Strength = Compression (Surface) − Tension (Core) This formula explains how the balance of compression and tension creates a material that’s both strong and fragile. Why Prince Rupert’s Drops Fascinate Us 🌟 A Study in Contradictions: Demonstrates how materials can be both resilient and delicate, depending on their structure.  🧪 Science Meets Art: Highlights the brilliance of material science and creative physics.  🔍 Inspiring Innovation: Insights from stress dynamics in these drops inform advancements in engineering, robotics, and even glass technology.  Where We See This Applied 🏗️ Material Engineering: Inspires the design of impact-resistant glass.  🔬 Stress Analysis: Helps scientists understand failure points in materials under pressure.  🤖 Robotics & AI: Teaches adaptability in designing systems that manage internal stress efficiently.  👇 Have you ever seen a Prince Rupert’s Drop in action? What amazes you most about its properties? Share your thoughts below, and let’s explore the wonders of physics together! 💧✨ Credits: 🌟 All write-up is done by me (P.S. Mahesh) after in-depth research. All rights for visuals belong to respective owners. 📚  

Check out our latest article just appeared in Batteries & Supercaps: The ARTISTIC #Battery #Manufacturing #Digitalization Initiative: From Fundamental #Research to #Industrialization https://lnkd.in/e3-c3Ees In this paper, we briefly review some of the achievements in our ERC- ARTISTIC project (www.erc-artistic.eu), and discuss our efforts towards the creation of a #start-up. This start-up gives the promise to be a game changer supporting battery #industry. More info to come soon 😊 Chemistry Europe Wiley Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV) RS2E - Réseau sur le stockage électrochimique de l'énergie Institut universitaire de France (IUF) European Research Council (ERC) Javier F. Franco Z. Lucie Denisart Diana Zapata Diego Galvez CNRS Innovation CNRS Hauts-de-France

You are warmly invited to attend the public PhD defense of Dandan Peng titled "Condition Monitoring of Rotating Machinery Based on AI Methodologies." Explore with her the advanced artificial intelligence strategies that improve fault detection and fault diagnosis capacities of rotating machinery. Highlights: - Explore deep learning techniques that improve anomaly detection in rotating machinery by enhancing the description of normal operational behaviors, significantly reducing dependency on extensive labeled data. - Develop a model with residual mixed-domain attention mechanisms that excels in noisy environments, enhancing both feature learning and diagnostic interpretability. - Introduce the physics-informed global and local domain adaptation network to ensure reliable fault diagnosis across various machines and conditions, effectively managing domain shifts. - Create a digital twin framework that aligns virtual data with real-world data, improving fault diagnosis performance on unlabeled target machines under non-stationary conditions. The defense will take place on Tuesday, January 7th , 2025 at 17:00 in Aula B (Room 00.08), Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 300, 3001 Heverlee. KU Leuven Flanders Make #LMSD #KULeuven #FlandersMake

Harvard researchers have introduced an exciting new metafluid in a recent study, representing a big leap forward in material science. This fluid stands out because it can be programmed, allowing it to change its properties like how springy it is, how it interacts with light, and its thickness. What's really impressive is that it can switch between behaving like a regular fluid (following Newton's laws) and a more complex one (non-Newtonian behavior) — a first for metafluids. The fluid is made up of tiny elastomer spheres suspended in silicon oil, and it changes its behavior when you apply pressure to it. This breakthrough opens up possibilities for things like hydraulic devices, robots that can be programmed, and optical tools that can change how transparent they are. The research team wants to keep studying this fluid to understand more about how it responds to temperature changes and sound, highlighting its many potential uses. #robots #shapechanging #programming #metafluid #fluid