MAE

ASME hosts an endurance race that runs for 2.5 hours with many obstacles such as tight turns, uneven terrain, and inclines. HPVC at UCI will design and manufacture a recumbent, tadpole bike with a sufficient rollover protection system to keep the driver safe in case of an accident during the endurance race. The bike consists of 5 major systems: braking system, drive system, steering system, rollover protection system, and electrical system. The team has been split into three subteams: statics which consists of the bike frame, rollover protection system and seat; dynamics which consists of steering, braking, and driving; electrical which consists of the battery, electrical box and electric motor. Overall, the team aims to produce a bike that is ergonomic, safe, and easy to handle. 

While we are a senior design project, we also make sure to recruit underclassmen so they have hands-on experience and are prepared to succeed in their engineering careers. 

The CubeSat team at UCI is a student-led undergraduate interdisciplinary research and design project with the goal of launching a 2U nanosatellite, AntSat 01, into orbit to test a UCI research payload. The satellite operates with five main engineering subsystems: Avionics, Communications, Structures, Power, and Systems. They all work to house STMS's (Spacecraft Thermal Management Systems) research payload within the 2U nanosatellite.

The research payload is a variable emissivity device (VED) that is developed by Spacecraft Thermal Management Systems (STMS). The payload will be tested as a thermal regulator, and our task is to evaluate its performance under varying levels of solar exposure and at different adjustable emissivity settings. We aim to determine if materials similar to the sample can serve as an inexpensive method for thermal management on future spacecraft.

BACKGROUND:
In recent years, the space sector has undergone a significant transformation with the emergence of...

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Description: This project aims to develop a Bluetooth-enabled weather station allowing users to access real-time, localized weather data via their smartphones. The weather station will be equipped with sensors to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure for a complete weather profile of a given location. This project not only promotes user convenience but also advances our understanding of weather patterns and trends. Additionally, users will be able to make informed decisions regarding daily activities whether its planning outdoor events, assessing the need for climate control, or simply preparing for changing weather. Our goal is to provide a user-friendly, affordable, and accurate solution to homeowners, businesses, and educators alike.

Background: Our team consists of members with different interests and areas of expertise so we chose to pursue a project that would leverage each team member's unique skills and passions. 

Goals and objectives: By the end of the...

Project Description: 

UAV Forge is a multidisciplinary engineering design team focusing on designing, manufacturing, programming, and testing autonomous aerial vehicles. The design aims to fulfill the constraints that allow the team to participate in the AUVSI SUAS 2023 competition season.

The AUVSI competition requires that the system’s UAV have autonomous flight capabilities, the ability to perform object avoidance of stationary and dynamic objects, and the ability to do object detection, localization, and classification. The system must also perform an airdrop task wherein UAV Forge will manufacture an assembly that will interface the UAV with descent and autonomous ground vehicles.

AUVSI SUAS Competition: 

The ground vehicle, once landed, will autonomously drive to its set destination to complete payload delivery. Though the emphasis for this year’s team is to perform well in the competition setting, the primary objective is to ensure the undergraduate students participating in the project apply their engineering skills...

Background: 

The Beach Cleaning Robot Project is an undergraduate student lead project that aims to design and manufacture a trash-collecting robot to support coastal cleanup efforts. The goal for this team is to produce a remote-controlled, scalable prototype that can collect trash the size of plastic water bottles and snack bags/containers. 

Goal and Objectives:

• Finalize a list of requirements and constraints for our design 

• Create a concept that meets all requirements and attributes

• Finalize CAD of concept by 05/12/2023

• Complete a functional prototype by 06/9/2023

Midterm Presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bhpozgORecW5Etl55LjynD7AwZ5MqIdC...

Final Report:

TBD

Prototype:

TBD

Team Contacts:

• Brianna Sandoval (Project Manager)- bnsando1@uci.edu
• John Patrick Ramos (Drive Train Engineer)- ramosjp1@uci.edu
• Kevin Harry (Collection Mechanism Engineer)- kjharry@uci.edu
• Nicholas Vargas (Electrical Engineer)- navarga1@uci.edu

Sponsor/Advisor:

• Shorbagy Mohamed (Sponsor) - mohamem2@uci.edu
• David Copp (Advisor)- dcopp@uci.edu

Background:

Smartphones have become increasingly more essential in the modern age since they allow us to connect with the outside world. As smartphones become more accessible comes the need for reliable and convenient methods of charging. Wall outlets and portable power banks are used to charge smartphones most of the time. However, they are not always accessible and reliable, especially in emergency situations and remote areas. Human-powered phone chargers provide an environmentally sustainable and portable solution for charging devices on-the-go. This project seeks to explore alternative solutions to charging that utilize human effort to ensure that charging is possible anywhere. The development of human-powered phone chargers is not new, as there are already existing designs and solutions on the market. However, there is a need to explore all avenues of mechanisms and human mechanical energy to improve its efficiency, portability, and affordability.

Goals and Objectives:

Our goal is to create...

An automated volleyball passing machine that will simulate the pass a libero might give, collect the setter's set into a net, then send through the passing machine again. The ideal passing component would be able to add backspin to the ball as one might see with a real pass. The person using the machine will then set the ball into a hoop with a rectangular net behind it to account for error. The volleyballs will be collected into a central location under the net and returned to the passing machine.

Welcome to our website, where we present our latest project aimed at designing, building, and testing a highly efficient solar cooker that uses only energy from the sun. Our objective is to create a cooker that works on sunny days, regardless of the angle of the sun, and that is inexpensive, compact, and lightweight. We believe that cooking with solar energy can be a sustainable and affordable solution in areas where fuel sources are limited, and that's why we focused on using easy-to-find materials and designing a cooker that is easy to assemble and disassemble. Our ultimate goal is to create a prototype that can cook something within a reasonable amount of time, making it a practical solution for people in need. We invite you to learn more about our project and follow our progress as we work towards creating a better future through sustainable cooking solutions.

Tired of walking across campus or waiting for the Starships to deliver your food? This all terrain vehicle is designed to deliver food across Aldrich Park to hungry UCI Anteaters! Since Starships are not meant to go offroad, they must travel around Aldrich Park to get to their destination. The Zot Bot team plans to achieve fast and reliable food deliveries with its vehicle's ability to drive through Aldrich Park and traverse any hills, holes, and other obstacles that it may face. Through research, design, and testing, the team looks to manufacture a Zot Bot not only rugged enough to withstand the Aldrich Park terrain, but also stable enough to preserve your food.

Description:

A fixture will be designed to withstand the ammonia atmosphere of a nitriding process in an oven of 1000℉ and must be able to support the weight of four shafts. The fixture must hold three splined shafts and one quill shaft in the oven such that minimal stress occurs in the shaft during the thermal cycle to 1000℉ that can result in permanent deflection. This will require modeling of stresses in the fixture at temperature with the strength reduction associated with >1000℉ appropriate margin.  

Technical Details:

We will be paying particular attention to the material selection of the fixture. The fixture needs to be resistant to the ammonia environment and the high temperature of the oven. Because of the harsh conditions of the nitriding process material selection is crucial in making a successful design. Stainless Steel 330 was determined to be the best choice of material for the fixture....

Background:

The pirpose of this project is to design a fully functioning solar cooker with a portable, efficient, easy-to-use option for food preparation under non-ideal conditions. In addition, we hope to understand companies' design, engineering, and manufacturing processes to sell products from this project. Finally, the knowledge obtained from this project will provide insight into how industries organize projects for engineers to complete under specific guidelines. 

Goals And Objectives:

The Solar Cooker Project Team will seek to design, manufacture, and test a solar cooker with a portable, efficient, and easy-to-use design to produce fully-cooked meals for families on outdoor adventures. Inventing a relatively compact design that ensures structural integrity, utilizes materials that provide lightness and sturdiness, and makes a fully cooked meal within half an hour are the critical milestones we must achieve throughout the quarter. Furthermore, our design must be capable of thoroughly cooking the meals inside to ensure the health and...

Background

“The SUAS competition is designed to foster interest in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), stimulate interest in UAS technologies and careers, and to engage students in a challenging mission. The competition requires students to design, integrate, report on, and demonstrate a UAS capable of autonomous flight and navigation, remote sensing via onboard payload sensors, and execution of a specific set of tasks. The competition has been held annually since 2002.

Multiple package delivery companies have tasked Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to deliver packages to customers. These UAS must avoid each other, map the operating area to identify hazards, avoid static obstacles like buildings, identify potential drop locations, drop the package to a safe location, and then move the package to the customer.” - SUAS 2023 Rulebook

Goal and Objectives

The team goal is to have a successful fixed-wing aircraft with respect to a mission profile that can potentially be used...

Summary

This project aims to develop a cost-efficient, user-friendly and convenient device for spreading butter-like substances using a spring mechanism to push the substance through a heating element and onto an applicator. The device will be operated by a roller and is intended to make the process of spreading butter more efficient and less messy. The use of heat pipes will provide a quick and even heating of the substance, ensuring that it can be easily applied in a controlled manner. The device will be designed to be easy to use and clean, making it an attractive option for any household. 

Role Assignment

Aldo Khiev--- Manufacturing Lead

Bridge Robinson--- Leader/Coordinator

Franciszek Czapla--- Electronics Specialist

Michael Punaro--- Solidworks Specialist

Qinyi Xu --- Operations Lead

Goal & Objectives

The objective of this project is to design a portable butter softener and applicator that meets the expectations of our project sponsor....

Background

Archytas Automation aims to create educational robot kits that could be utilized in a classroom setting for teaching as well as competition; additionally, Archytas is hoping to expand their robot arms into other commercial settings to ease the labor of various tasks. Their gripper end effector is tasked with the ability to grip and move a large range of objects with varying shapes, sizes, and payloads.  Current issues with the gripper include the housing of the motor and its wiring, its limiting functionality, and difficulty to assemble. 

Goals and Objectives

With the discontinued 320 Dynamixel motors, which are currently used to control the rotation and gripping of the end effector, the team must design a new end effector using the new model of the motor, the 330 Dynamixel motors, to perform gripping tasks as well as accomodate for different jaw attachments. The team must redesign a robot arm end effector gripper with...

Our team will design, build, and test a robot arm.

A key function of our Robot Arm design is the implementation of a proxy arm to control and program the arms motion. The goal is to create an intuitive user interface that can quickly repurpose the arm for the task at hand.

Our inspiration for this proxy arm is from a youtube video demonstrating the control and programming of a robot arm. In this video a button is pressed to begin recording the proxy arms motion. It can be controlled in real time or the motion recorded for playback. Unfortunately the video has since been made private.

Background

With the effects of climate change and cost of living for California homeowners increasing, there has been an increase in interest to obtain a green,sustainable, and affordable home. An important aspect of maintaining such a home is utilizing renewable energy. Renewable energy such as wind and solar provide an alternative to our dependence on the electric and gas. Although current solutions include pumped hydro and battery systems, solar power has gained in popularity over its advantages. Antheaters are part of a project that aims to research, design and establish a manufacturing plan for a patio heater that uses solar energy as its main source of energy, which is then stored and released as hot air. The system shall store heat during the day and release it when the consumer deems it desired to heat up a small residential patio. By taking advantage of solar energy we hope to reduce the use of fossil...

Our Small Scale Wind Turbine project aims to provide a sustainable and cost-effective solution for individuals, organizations, and communities looking to generate their own electricity. In this project, we focus on designing and building a compact, lightweight, and durable small-scale wind turbine that can generate a minimum of 10 watts of electricity in low wind speed conditions,  while being able to withstand wind speeds up to 18 m/s. The wind turbine must fit into a 50cm x 50cm x 50cm box without its mounting assembly and have a total cost of less than $300. The goal is to create a wind turbine that is both efficient and accessible, providing a reliable source of energy for those in need. Through careful design and rigorous testing, our Small Scale Wind Turbine program aims to create a high-quality and cost-effective solution for renewable energy  generation.

Background 

"Robot for Executing Physics-Inspired Path Planner" is a capstone design project. The project team will design and build a self-contained and self-sufficient robot capable of tracking a preplanned collision-free path in a 2D environment containing circular obstacles with a maximum error of 10% at any point.

Unique Background of Project Team Members

Our team consists of 5 team members, 4 of which are Mechincal Engineers and the 5th being an Aerospace Engineer. There are 4 students that have previously taken the course MAE 106 at UCI, which has similar objectives to this current project. This is helpful as there has been prior experience to using Arduino and CAD modeling a robot of this caliber. With such different backgrounds as a person, this helps to come together and be able to provide new outlooks on problems to solve. 

Goal and Objectives

Develop technical skills and critical thinking to quantify the...

Background
     This student-led project is a partnership with the LN4 Hand Project. The LN4 is a non-profit organization that aims to provide free prosthetic hands to anyone in need- anywhere in the world. They have already delivered over 5000 of their prosthetic devices to below-the-elbow amputees, mainly in India and Cambodia. There remains an estimated 145,000 eligible patients globally, waiting to receive a helping hand.

     Since the prosthetic hands for sale on the market today are prohibitively expensive, LN4 designs and manufactures its own devices. They are now in the process of making their next generation hand which will go on to improve the lives of many around the world. In concert with their efforts, our task is to prototype a mounting mechanism by which the prosthetic hand can be securely fastened to the residual limb. 

Goal and Objectives
     The primary...

Pressure fed rocket engines make use of high pressure pressurant tanks that should be
topped off after pressing propellant tanks. One of the ways to accomplish this safely is to make
use of a remotely controlled high pressure quick disconnect (QD) system. The system would be
responsible for disconnecting the high pressure pressurant fill line after refilling the pressurant
tank to nominal pressures. By excluding the need to have a manual high pressure disconnect
while the pressurant tank is at max pressure eliminates a source of risk during the fill process.
The 189 team will develop a high pressure QD system that can be triggered by an electrical
signal. The QD should be rated for at least 1.5 times the max pressure in the current system’s
COPV and be able to be triggered reliably. The QD hardware should be commercially available
...

UCI Rocket Project Solids Team will be building its first large collective rocket to compete in the 10k Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Propulsion Category at the 2023 Spaceport America (SA) Cup. Our team is tasked to design an AirCore Atmospheric Sampling System that will collect and test air samples from different altitudes, allowing the team to compare the data and analyze its differences in gas concentrations. As a team, we aim to combine our interdisciplinary knowledge to meet the system requirements which include: weighing at least 4 kg, being able to withstand 10 Gs of force, be at least 3Us, ground tested, and survive 4 launch attempts. Our group aims to familiarize ourselves with the engineering design process and apply critical thinking to design a fully functional payload system for our rocket.

Summary

In recent history, humans have discovered and constructed the mechanism of flight. As far as technologies have advanced, flying birds and insects still outperform the agility, maneuverability, and stability of man-made aircraft. The Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle research team works to unlock the secrets of how Mother Nature does flight. For example, hummingbirds and dragonflies demonstrate remarkable aerial control during flight and are capable of traversing complex environments.
FWMAV studies the phenomenon behind the flapping wing. Animals and insects that use flapping mechanisms to fly demonstrate remarkable aerial control during flight, capable of traversing complex environments. FWMAV's research focuses on flight mechanisms and physical phenomena. Engineers examine the flight patterns of birds and insects so they can design efficient flight mechanisms. Different forms of fluid computation and force analysis were performed on FWMAVs to learn about the complex unsteady aerodynamics associated with the flapping motion of the...

Background:

This team is tasked with improving upon the vertical takeoff and landing aircraft prototype Kestrel. Kestrel uses 3 electric ducted fans (EDFs) which are housed inside nacelles which can rotate about the pitch axis such that their thrust can be redirected from being expelled rearward to downward and are powered by lithium polymer batteries. The augmentation of these nacelles allows for standard forward flight, transitional flight, and vertical flight.

The aircraft is primarily constructed with light weight 3d printed components which are reinforced by carbon fiber rods and tubes. This allows the model to have geometries not easily achieved by other techniques

Kestrel proved the propulsion layout of 2 forward EDFs, and 1 rear EDF, all rotating about the pitch axis, can control the craft in vertical flight and maintain a stable hover. All of the control surfaces worked, the construction process was validated, and the landing gear worked well....

In this project, we will be creating an autonomous cleaning robot that resembles the form of a Roomba. Upon completion, our cleaning robot will go through a challenging obstacle course where it will need to avoid obstacles while simultaneously vacuuming up dust and debris in the play field. Through this project, we are synthesisizing several disciplines of engineering including mechanical, robotics, electrical and computer engineering in order to accomplish our goal. 

BACKGROUND:

UCI CubeSat is a student-led effort to design, manufacture, and launch a 2U nanosatellite to conduct experiments on a UCI research payload called a variable emissivity device (VED).

These experiments aim to ascertain whether the VED will be viable for use as a cheap, reliable method of thermal management on future spacecraft. UCI's CubeSat, AntSat1, will relay data on performance in various degrees of solar exposure and at varying adjustable emissivity values while in orbit.

OBJECTIVES:

• Ensure that payload requirements and mission objectives from payload stakeholders are met
• Integrate components of various subsystems to collect data, manage power, and communicate with the ground station
• Build and test a functional receiving ground station
• Test the subsystems and CubeSat among operational and launch conditions
• Integrate and successfully launch AntSat1
• Create thorough documentation and a foundation for future UCI orbital projects

SUBSYSTEMS:

Operations: Maintains the team's Linux server (system administration) and internal...

The objective of the FUSION Engineering Project is to design and create a functional autonomous vacuum cleaner. Each team must adhere to certain design specifications set by the Project Directors and will compete with each other at FUSIONCon in May 2023. Each team’s goal is to create a cost-effective robot while maintaining functionality.

The UCI Rocket Project PTU is a project whose goal is to design a pressure testing system that can safely and accurately pressure test components used by the Liquid Rocket Team on their current Preliminary Test Rocket and be adaptable to their next generation rocket. The designed PTU will improve upon UCI Rocket Project's current pressure testing equipment that is difficult to use and requires multiple people to setup. It will be remotely controlled so that the operator is at a safe distance and pressure transducers will provide accurate data. The PTU will be able to test relief valves, calibrate pressure regulating valves, and leak test all components.

Background:

The FUSION Autonomous Vaccum project aims to provide members with the opportunity to work with a diverse range of other engineering majors while aquiring hands-on experience with Arduinos and CAD modeling.Although we share the same objective as the other project teams within FUSION, we will differentiate ourselves with our unique design and approach to problem-solving in order to be a competitive oponent in the end-of-the-year competition. 

Goal and Objectives: 

This project will introduce us to the intricate world of robotics, allowing our members to explore their interests and curiosities in programming and modeling. This will allow us to better understand the complexity of automation and its potential to better our own lives. 

We have received our first purchase order on Janurary 31st, 2023, and have began to work on initial construction of our robot. We have created designs for the major mechanical components of the system and have collaborated towards...

The goal of our project is to test and validate an inexpensive numerical analysis tool for lift and
drag calculations of a 2D airfoil. The project will use the XFOIL code as a prototypical numerical
predictive tool for aerodynamic analysis. An experimental campaign will be designed to provide
reliable data to validate the numerical prediction method. The team will be fully responsible for
coming up with a set of wind tunnel experiments, obtaining the necessary materials, executing
the experiments, and fully documenting methods and results. In addition, the team will need to
master the XFOIL code and execute the necessary calculations.