https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu Robotics and biocontrols systems Thu, 14 Jan 2021 21:29:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 131298382 https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2017/05/09/ali-filsoofi-recognized-as-me-ta-of-the-year/ https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2017/05/09/ali-filsoofi-recognized-as-me-ta-of-the-year/#respond Tue, 09 May 2017 21:42:18 +0000 https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/?p=77 The ME students’ choice 2016-2017 Outstanding Teaching Assistant (TA) of the Year Award is in recognition for Ali Samarefilsoofi’s devotion and genuine concern for students. Samarefilsoofi was a TA for the Intro to Robot Controls class, taught by mechanical engineering associate professor Stephen Mascaro. Mascaro said, “Ali had a lot of responsibilities including preparing weekly lab experiments and keeping labs in working condition, as well as grading 45 homework papers and labs each week. I am pleased to hear the students recognized his efforts.” Samarefilsoofi is a Ph.D. student in the ME Bio-Controls Laboratory advised by mechanical engineering associate professor Sanford Meek, where his research focuses on quadruped robots. When receiving this award Samarefilsoofi said, “It was a great experience to work closely with students and help them to better learn about the course materials. Having a teaching experience was helpful for me to achieve a deeper understanding of the material. This recognition from the students was unanticipated and means a lot. I encourage all Ph.D. students to enhance their experience by taking advantage of the TA program.” Pictured left to right, mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Ali Samarefilsoofi receives the 2016-2017 ME students’ choice Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year Award from mechanical engineering professor and chair Tim Ameel, during the ME 2017 Graduation Reception held in the Mechanical Engineering Kennecott Bldg. Lower-Level Atrium.  ]]> https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2017/05/09/ali-filsoofi-recognized-as-me-ta-of-the-year/feed/ 0 77 https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2017/03/25/meek-recognized-as-volunteer-of-the-year/ https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2017/03/25/meek-recognized-as-volunteer-of-the-year/#respond Sat, 25 Mar 2017 21:34:36 +0000 https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/?p=81 The Utah Regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), held March 10 and 11, at the Maverik Center, recognized University of Utah mechanical engineering associate professor Sanford Meek as the 2017 Volunteer of the Year. Since the inception of bringing FRC to Utah, Meek has been a supporting decision maker and doer on the Utah Regional Planning Committee, and at each Utah regional competition. Robots built by 48 high school teams, mostly from Utah, but from as far away as California and Alberta, Canada, competed in the 2017 annual Utah Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, co-sponsored by the University of Utah’s College of Engineering. Volunteers make up 99% of the FIRST workforce and are often thought to be the “heart” of FIRST programs.  Each regional competition requires more than 100 volunteers, most of whom put in three or four 12-hour days. Members of the Planning Committee, such as Meek, meet year round. Dr. Meek’s research on biocentric robotics helped inspire the original grant that led to the Utah Regional. For over ten years he has provided imagery, vision, and wisdom, before, during, and after each event. During the event, he is on site from the beginning taping the pits, building the field, taking videos and photos, offering direction, and even staying to the very end to disassemble the field. “In his professional community, Dr. Meek is known for his research in prosthetics control as someone that helps amputees grasp delicately,” says event chair, Dr. Mark Minor. “He is also known as someone that understands what makes quadrupeds trot along effortlessly. Considering his generous contributions, the Utah Regional FRC recognized him as someone that helps Utah bound gracefully forward.”

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  FIRST, a not-for-profit 501c(3), was founded in 1989 in New Hampshire by Dean Kamen in order to “. . . inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.” The “public charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.” FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) for youth in 9^th – 12^th grades was the first program the fledging organization created.  Since then, FIRST has designed three additional levels creating a suite of programs for children, beginning with FIRST Lego League Junior (K-3^rd grade), FIRST Lego League (4^th – 9^th grade), FIRST Tech Challenge (7^th – 12^th grade) and culminating in FIRST Robotics Competition, (9^th – 12^th grades). Recognizing the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, parents, educators, industry, and government are providing access to FIRST programs across the country for youth of all ages.  FIRST is now in all 50 states and over 80 countries. Utah is one of the most recent, with early adopter FRC teams competing in the early 2000s from Blanding, Salt Lake City, Logan and Woods Cross.]]> https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2017/03/25/meek-recognized-as-volunteer-of-the-year/feed/ 0 81 https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2015/08/26/meek-receives-nihnri-grant-for-quadrupedal-human-assistive-robotic-platform/ https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2015/08/26/meek-receives-nihnri-grant-for-quadrupedal-human-assistive-robotic-platform/#respond Wed, 26 Aug 2015 21:39:46 +0000 https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/?p=91 For his Quadrupedal Human-Assistive Robotic Platform (Q-HARP) research, University of Utah mechanical engineering associate professor Sanford Meek received a three-year $186,219  NIHNRI (National Institutes of Health National Robotics Initiative) : Collaborative Research grant. Aging of the population has become a long-term trend in the United States. According to The State of Aging and Health in America, the U.S. population aged 65 and older is expected to double during the 25 years following 2007, and there will be 71 million American older adults, accounting for approximately 20% of the U.S. population by 2030. For the health and wellbeing of older adults, a key factor is being physically active. However, a large number of them have difficulty in maintaining an active lifestyle, resulting from the gradual degeneration of the musculoskeletal structure, or the related musculoskeletal or neural pathologies (e.g. stroke). With the impaired mobility, such individuals are more likely to live in a sedentary lifestyle, and suffer from the various problems associated with the sedentary lifestyle, e.g. high blood pressure, depression, obesity, etc. To help these elder individuals live a healthy and productive life, we propose to develop a novel quadrupedal human-assistive robotic platform (Q-HARP). The Q-HARP can be used as a Smart Power-Assist Walker: in this mode, a user, situated in the center of the legged robot, can enjoy the desired power assist in walking according to his/her intent. As such, a Q-HARP user is able to perform an appropriate amount of physical activity, while enjoying the enhanced level of mobility and independence during his/her daily life. Furthermore, with the Q-HARP’s legged motion, the human-robot system can easily overcome most common obstacles in the daily life. The environmental adaptability far exceeds that of powered wheelchair, the dominant powered mobility tool for elderly assistance. In addition to the Smart Power-Assist Walker mode, the Q-HARP can also be used in the Smart Mule mode: a user can walk along the side of the robot, with the robot carrying load and following the user. Such function is also very useful in a user’s daily activities, e.g. walking to a neighborhood grocery store for shopping. Note that the robot also has the capability of carrying load on the side in the Walker mode, but in the Smart Mule mode the robot is expected to provide more load-carrying space after simple conversion (e.g. installing a cargo net at the center). This expansion in functionality is expected to make the robot more versatile and flexible in its daily use. To develop such an innovative robot, we will use a high-power-density chemo-fluidic actuation approach to generate the desired torque and power capacity while keeping the robot compact and lightweight. Additionally, we will also develop an intelligent control system to provide natural and interactive physical assistance according to the user’s intent. This novel control system adopts a tri-level structure: one the higher level, a 3D computer vision-based sensing system will be developed to detect the user motion and the environment; on the middle level, a biomimetic, impedance-based motion planner will be developed to facilitate the interaction between the robot and the user; on the lower level, a physical impedance regulator will be developed to obtain the desired motion and power assist to the user, leveraging the controllable physical impedance of the pneumatic actuators. Overall, this project has a potential to generate significant impact on the related technical areas in robotics while benefiting the large and rapidly growing elderly population in the U.S.]]> https://biocontrols.mech.utah.edu/2015/08/26/meek-receives-nihnri-grant-for-quadrupedal-human-assistive-robotic-platform/feed/ 0 91