Shaf is putting together some membrane reactors for testing the efficiency of enzymes at chewing up leftover organic matter (think grass clippings or crop waste) to turn it into fuels and other useful products. There is a lot of gluing involved in the prototypes. Laser-cut acrylic pieces plus a membrane form a chamber to send …
Category Archives: Lab News
Get a grip
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 …
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 …