MAE

Background

Students that are a part of the UC Irvine Intelligent Ground Vehicle Team will design and test an autonomous ground vehicle that is able to navigate through an obstacle course. The technologies used in IGV encompass a wide range of applications in engineering including military mobility, intelligent transport systems, and manufacturing. 

Goals and Objectives 

Like many professional organizations at UCI, FUSION takes pride in providing experience and opportunities to eager students. We believe in Social support, Professionalism, Academia, Culture, and Engineering as pillars for our club. Each of these pillars are deeply embedded in our annual engineering projects. Since the beginning of this club, iterations of the club projects gained recognition for providing valuable experience and lessons for the participating students. This year, FUSION presents the 2021-2022 Engineering Project: Hungry Hungry Hippos.

The RF-controlled Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) is designed to perform jobs without a human operator onboard. Each RF-controlled UGV is designed differently to perform different tasks. An RF-controlled UGV would be perfect for the inspection of steel structures because the job could be very dangerous to human operators, and UGVs can be used for both civilians and military projects. A UGV makes it possible to perform inspections under realistic time constraints, where not only human errors will be avoided but also in locations human being would normally be unable to go. This process of steel inspection is multipurpose, meaning the UGV design will be able to accomplish multiple jobs. Furthermore, the advantages of the UGV is that it reduces injuries and fatalities in all parts of the steel inspection process.

Project Background:

For the winter and spring quarters of 2022, Siemens and Morf 3D have partnered up with the University of California, Irvine to teach senior-level Mechanical Engineering students using their CAD software, NX, emphasizing additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry. To get the UCI team familiarized with the NX software and the concept of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry, Siemens and Morf 3D engineers will work alongside the UCI team. This project will serve as a guide to learn how additive manufacturing will be the future of the aerospace industry and the manufacturing industry because of the digitalization of engineering design projects in the industrial sectors. In this quarter, the UCI team will learn about engineering in the industry, applying applicable engineering design processes, modifying parts, making the correct design and manufacturing decisions, and ultimately designing effective support structures for the parts provided by Siemens and Morf 3D.

As technology advances, being autonomous has become a trending focus. Imagine cars can drive by themselves, foods can be delivered without human interaction, and rescuing jobs can be handled by autonomous robots. Aiming to achieve these wonderful outcomes, UCI IGV (Intelligent Ground Vehicle) team is formatted under the supervision of the UCI Mechanical Engineering department. Our goals are to design and fabricate an autonomous ground vehicle that can detect and avoid obstacles. The team is divided into three subteams, control, electrical, and mechanical. Each team has unique tasks and works closely with the others. The mechanical team mostly focuses on the mechanical side of the project. We aim to design a stable steering system that is capable of achieving a wide range of turning angles and a propulsion system that provides sufficient power that drives the vehicle forward at a reasonable speed. 

The steerable mechanical walking robot is a project that uses a motor-driven Jansen leg mechanism to move, while also using a separate servo motor to steer the robot through a bell crank mechanism. The robot is wirelessly controlled via infrared, having buttons on the IR remote command the robot to turn left or right, go forwards or backward, and also to stop.

An Arduino UNO facilitates the electronics control of the robot, processing IR signal from an IR receiver, which promptly translates it into an action. The Arduino is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

A motion study was used with a CAD model to analyze the motion of the physical prototype before building the robot. The final prototype uses a Jansen-style leg mechanism, which uses 11 linkages to mimic the walking motion of a leg. 

Background 

The goal of this project is to turn microalgae into crude oil for commercial use. The students must design effective growing systems - from physical tanks, to electronics, to regulating the environment - to turn the algae into fuel that results in cheap, clean, compatible fuels. Recreate Energy has previously tested the optimal algal growing conditions to build the reactor around and has already signed with a company to deliver a commercial ready bio-reactor with web management platform.  Recreate Energy is currently developing modular bioreactors, compared to the previous exclusively on open-air systems or closed-controlled systems, to lower costs and include the best of both systems when it comes to algae cultivation for biofuels. The project is separated into 3 sub teams that deal with specific design considerations: Temperature Control, Electro-Flocculation, and Electronic Box. 

The RF Controlled Miniature Lathe project surrounds the conceptualization, design, and construction of a tabletop lathe that can be controlled and used to alter the inserted material without direct interaction with the machine. The miniature lathe's remote control capabilities will be supported by a radiofrequency controller, with joysticks that will allow for four directional movement: right, left, forward, and backward. In instituting a remote control option, users will be able to maintain a safe distance from the machine, even standing behind a glass shield, and still be able to chisel and sand the piece in question. As opposed to machining metal or solid wood cylindrical pieces, the mini lathe will process high-density closed cell foam. Fabrication of the lathe itself will combine 3D printed parts with manufactured wood components. 

Relativity Space has partnered with UCI to create a senior design project set to redesign the flange. With bolted flanges currently being the primary method of reversable attachment of two pipes it’s simple design and out of date manufacturing process has left much room for improvement. We have set forth to design, test and manufacture a prototype flange that is 3D printed, light weight, and maintains ASME flange standards.

For this project, our team was tasked to design a flexible IPA Sprayer made to navigate through the complex geometries of 3D printed components. The primary task is to fully coat the inside with IPA so that residual IPA can be analyzed for contamination.

UCI CubeSat is a student design team working on the design and construction of UCI's very first CubeSat satellite. Our mission is to deliver two research payloads to low earth orbit.

Background

Goal and Objectives

The autonomous robot project is a naval research project. The purpose of the project is to design, program, manufacture, and test an autonomous vehicle that can locate pre-determined GPS coordinates and present a target to the shooter.

Background

Established in 2015, HyperXite is a team of undergraduate students endeavoring to build a Hyperloop pod.

The mission of the Long Range Drone Senior Project is to create a lightweight drone that can fly for thirty minutes or longer using stored electrical power by the end of the winter quarter in 2022. The drone will carry a camera for navigational purposes. The drone will be designed to accommodate a hydrogen fuel cell by spring quarter of 2022.

Background:

The objective of UCI Solar Airplane Project is to design and manufacture a UAV that can assist with planning rescue missions and evacuation operations during natural disasters. The UAV will have its flight duration extended, at least by 30 minutes beyond battery-only duration, by installing solar panels. The imagery the proposed UAV will be able to collect can be used for the missions during natural disasters. A low-cost drone is more accessible by organization while still performing small imaging collection tasks. The proposed UAV will be able to fly at low heights to achieve a very low ground sample distance. The drone can aid with disaster relief efforts where accessibility is difficult for humans or visibility is limited.

Summary

The UCI DBF team plans to compete in the annual, nationwide competitionThe American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Design, Build, Fly (DBF) .The UCI team is divided into different divisions/subteams to work on specific parts for the aircraft. This page is for the payload subteam. We are responsible for the design of the fuselage and the drop mechanism of the team's aircraft, mainly focusing on Missions 2 & 3 of the competition. Missions will include deployment of the aircraft, staging of vaccination syringes, and delivery of vaccine vial packages with integrated 25G shock sensors which should not be triggered.. This team consists of students of all year levels working alongside each other to accomplish a common task and goal.

This is the payload subteam of the AIAA Design Build Fly Team at UCI. Our subteam is in charge of designing the fuselage to hold vaccine syringes and the drop mechanism to release the syringes. Our goal is to release syringes carefully and quickly to deliver as many syringes as possible without compromising the integrity.

Maintaining lines of communication is vital in emergency situations. One major concern for those living in rural areas is being cut off from the electrical grid during natural disasters. The small-scale wind turbine project aims to design a scaled down wind turbine sized for a single household's personal use, in case of an emergency. The wind turbine should be capable of powering household devices needed in emergency situations, such as radios, lightbulbs and cellphones.This project encompasses the designing,  optimization and a fully developed manufacturing plan for the assembly of the wind turbine, as well as each of its constituent components.

Background

Students that are a part of the UC Irvine Intelligent Ground Vehicle Team will design and test an autonomous ground vehicle that is able to navigate through an obstacle course. The technologies used in IGV encompass a wide range of applications in engineering including military mobility, intelligent transport systems, and manufacturing. 

Goals and Objectives 

The CanSat competition is a design-build-fly competition that provides teams with an opportunity to experience the design life-cycle of an aerospace system. The CanSat competition is designed to reflect a typical aerospace program on a small scale and includes all aspects of an aerospace program from the preliminary design review to post mission review. The mission and its requirements are designed to reflect various aspects of real world missions including telemetry requirements, communications, and autonomous operations. Each team is scored throughout the competition on real-world deliverables such as schedules, design review presentations, and demonstration flights.

As indicated by the title “Design, Build, Fly”, this project involves the design of an aircraft for the purpose of completing three air missions and one ground mission, building components of the aircraft that are not commercially available, and testing and flying the aircraft. The design of the aircraft is optimized solely to complete the missions. The missions are as follows: For mission 1 (deployment flight), the aircraft must complete 3 laps within a 5 minute flight window without a payload and complete a successful landing; For mission 2 (Staging Flight), the aircraft must complete 3 laps within a 5 minute flight window with a payload of at least 10 syringes; For mission 3 (Vaccine Delivery Flight), the aircraft has 10 minutes to  complete as many ‘vaccine package’ deployments as possible; Finally, ground mission is a timed mission with the aircraft in the flight configuration in the “mission box” with Mission 2 and 3 payloads. The assembly crew must demonstrate the functionality of the aircraft by deploying all payloads. The design of the aircraft will focus on the requirements of the third mission where the aircraft must be able to complete a flight course within a time window while carrying a payload and making several takeoffs and landings. The wings, fuselage, empennage, will be drawn and built by the team. Components such as the battery, propellers, motors, wheels will be carefully selected to meet the aircraft performance requirements. The team is divided into sub teams that focus on aircraft performance, propulsion, CAD, payload and the like. 

Background:

The UCI Anteater Baja Racing SAE team competes yearly in the Baja SAE West Collegiate Design Competition hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Each year the team develops a brand-new single-seat off-road vehicle for the competition based on research into the dynamics of off-road vehicles and a critical analysis of the previous year’s car. The yearly competition hosts 100 collegiate teams from across the world and consists of a series of static and dynamic events culminating in the 4-hour, 100 car wheel-to-wheel endurance event. 

Background

This project hopes to explore renewable energy on a personal scale. The Power Blades team is working on developing a small scale wind turbine suitable for camping applications. The wind turbine will be compact enough to fit a hiking backpack and should be easily deployed and assembled. It will be able to reliably provide enough electricity overnight to charge common camping appliances(cell phones, flashlights, camera battery, ...). The project consists of 2 teams, mechanical and electrical, that will practice the design process in order to plan and design the manufacturing of the small scale wind turbine. The actual manufacturing of this product will not be conducted.

LiDAR Vision is a senior design project aimed to design and fabricate a 2D-localization LiDAR equipped device. In order for robots to perform independently and autonomously, they need to be aware of the environment around them. The sensors built into the robots can function as their “eyes” to detect surroundings and provide feedback to the unit to adjust their movements accordingly. LiDAR sensors, using light detection and ranging to locate, are very cost-effective in the markets and accurate while detecting and ranging obstacles. Our team is designing and fabricating a standalone 2D-localization LiDAR equipped device that can operate functionally indoors.

Background 

The Autonomous Underwater vehicle project is a student-led group of Mechanical Engineering students working with Professor Camilo Velez to study and manufacture a swarm of small scale robots. Our inspiration for this project stems from the idea that nano robots can work together to detect, isolate and remove a single cell in the human body. In an effort to work towards this idea, our team is set to construct a number of small-scale robots that can autonomously navigate in a swimming pool to detect and attach magnetically to a specified item.