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Awards
She is the director of the Bio-inspired Adaptive Morphology (BAM) Lab.
Before arriving to UIUC in 2015, she was a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford
University. Wissa earned her Ph.D from the University of Maryland. Wissa’s
research primarily focuses on the design, structural, and aeroelastic
tailoring of adaptive bio-inspired structures and systems such as ground
robots and aerial vehicles. Wissa was awarded the AFOSR young
investigator award in 2018. She is a McNair Scholar and the recipient of
the Air Force Research Laboratory Summer Faculty Fellowship for the
years of 2016 and 2018.
Sam Tawfick is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Science and
Engineering and at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Sciences and
Technologies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He leads the
Kinetic Materials Research Group which focuses on the synthesis,
self-assembly and mechanical behavior of smart materials and structures.
He obtained his PhD from the University of Michigan and was a
Postdoctoral Associate at MIT. His awards include the Chao and Trigger
and the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer by SME and ASME
respectively; the Robert M. Caddell Memorial Award for outstanding
research in manufacturing, the Azarkhin Award and the Ivor K. McIvor
Award for outstanding research in applied mechanics from the University
of Michigan.
BEST PAPER AWARD IN ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS DYNAMICS
AND CONTROLS
Pietro Bilancia (main author), Giovanni Berselli, Umberto Scarcia, Gianluca Biographies
Palli. “Design of a beam-based variable stiffness actuator via shape
optimization in a CAD/CAE environment.”
Pietro Bilancia
Giovanni Berselli
Umberto Scarcia
Gianluca Palli
Abstract
Industrial robots are commonly designed to be very fast and stiff in order
to achieve extremely precise position control capabilities. Nonetheless,
high speeds and power do not allow for a safe physical interaction
between robots and humans. With the exception of the latest generation
lightweight arms, purposely design for human-robot collaborative tasks,
safety devices shall be employed when workers enter the robots’
workspace, in order to reduce the chances of injuries. In this context,
Variable Stiffness Actuators (VSA) potentially represent an effective
solution for increasing robot safety. In light of this consideration, the
present paper describes the design optimization of a VSA architecture
previously proposed by the authors. In this novel embodiment, the VSA
can achieve stiffness modulation via the use of a pair of compliant
mechanisms with distributed compliance, which act as nonlinear springs
with proper torque-deflection characteristic. Such elastic elements are
composed of slender beams whose neutral axis is described by a spline
curve with non-trivial shape. The beam geometry is determined by
leveraging on a CAD/CAE framework allowing for the shape optimization
of complex flexures. The design method makes use of the modeling and
simulation capabilities of a parametric CAD software seamlessly
connected to a FEM tool (i.e. Ansys Workbench). For validation purposes,
proof-concept 3D printed prototypes of both non-linear elastic element
and overall VSA are finally produced and tested. Experimental results fully
confirm that the compliant mechanism behaves as expected.
Pietro Bilancia received the bachelor degree in mechanical engineering
from the University of Modena (Italy) and the master degree in mechanical
engineering (Cum Laude and the official mention as “archival publishing
level”) from the University of Genova (Italy) in 10-2014 and 10-2016. He is
currently (11/2016-today) a PhD student at DIME, Mechanical Engineering
Department, University of Genova. His studying activity is mainly focused
on design methods for compliant mechanisms and automatic machines.
His main interest in research is the virtual and physical prototyping of
compliant mechanisms and the developing of multi-purpose
optimization routines.
Giovanni Berselli is Associate Professor in Design Methods and Tools for
Industrial Engineering at the University of Genova, Italy. He was previously
Visiting Professor with the Robotics and Mechatronics (RAM) Lab of the
University of Twente, The Netherlands, and also Research Associate with 27
Monash University, Australia, and with the University of Navarra, Spain. He
has authored more than 130 publications in peer-reviewed international
scientific journals and conference proceedings, and he has been Editor of
one international book, recipient of an IEEE I-RAS Young Author and an
IFToMM Best Paper Awards, invited speaker in several international
research institution or universities, and finalist for an ERC starting grant in
2016. Prof. Berselli’s scientific activity is strongly focused on the
development of engineering methods and tools for the conceptual design,
the modelling and optimisation, and the experimental evaluation of
compliant mechanisms and innovative mechanical/mechatronic systems
(especially automatic machines).