It’s the last week for most interns here, and it was a busy summer. Canisha has demonstrated that our pop-up microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can interact with fabric fibers by curling around them. Thanks to a gentle etch process that does not damage fabrics, she was able to put nylon and polyester meshes into one of …
Author Archives: cindy.harnett@louisville.edu
Assembly time
Our REU student Canisha is working on large-scale and small-scale versions of a design for an electrical contact system. “Large-scale” means assembling millimeter-scale components to a circuit board using solder paste, which she is stenciling above. In printed circuit board assembly, stenciling is followed by robotic placement of small components like resistors and diodes. “Small-scale” …
Summer Lab Happenings
This summer we have several lab projects on sensors and actuators made from soft, flexible materials. Compliant microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) Above: our simulation of a 2 layer plank heated at one end. This simulation connects to a couple of collaborations with other groups. Bending MEMS are being investigated for microrobots and as grippers that stick …
Spring 18 embedded systems projects
Last week the Embedded Systems class demoed its final projects and posted them online. The 13 projects included a spinning LED display and a plant watering system that kept track of soil moisture (ab0ve), and a “piano” that made the most of interrupts to read 8 buttons (bel0w). Projects are generally based on the Microchip …
Capstone students are sweating it
This semester’s lab-affiliated Capstone team is busy testing the wireless wearable accelerometers they’ve built. Our Capstone course is a semester of senior year and it’s usually the last project students do for course credit. The big picture for Team 9 is a system to measure training intensity, with some great guidance from the Athletics department. …