This year, Depthx, a NASA-funded robot, will explore one of our planet's most inhospitable regions so in the future it might explore an even more extreme atmosphere—a moon of Jupiter.

But for right now, Depthx is content to restrict its Earthbound explorations to the world's deepest known sinkhole, Cenote Zacat"n in Mexico.

More than 1,000 feet deep, Zacat"n has been only partially mapped. Its true depth remains unknown, said Marcus Gary, a doctoral student in the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas. Gary and Jack Sharp, a hydrogeology professor at the university in Austin, Texas, are credited with discovering that the sinkhole's hydrothermal nature is analogous to liquid oceans under the icy surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa.

Researchers at the University of Texas ready the deep-swimming robot Depthx to explore the world's deepest sinkhole. One day, Depthx may be dispatched to Europa, a moon of Jupiter, for similar exploration.

Gary and others speculate that previously undocumented life may await discovery in Zacat"n's murky depths. Already, microbes that look to be new to science have been discovered floating in deep water and lining rocks in Zacat"n. Far below sunlight's ability to penetrate, they may get their energy from nutrients welling up from hot springs, Gary said.

The exploration project is named Depthx after the robot, a deepwater explorer that NASA funded for $5 million. The robotic explorer is designed to map underwater caves, measure geochemical properties of the water, search for microbes and other life forms, and bring back samples for subsequent analysis.

The explorer is autonomous, meaning it doesn't rely on instructions from humans to decide where to go or what to do. Using on-board software, it creates 3-D maps of previously unexplored areas as it swims along and then uses those same maps to navigate back the way it came.

In February, the robot proved its navigation capabilities by successfully mapping La Pilita, the second deepest sinkhole in the Zacat"n system. This first mission proved that Depthx could find its way through underwater space, collect samples in unexplored areas, and navigate back.

Depthx could be part of future space probes to Europa, where scientists believe that deep cracks and holes in the ice offer a chance of finding extraterrestrial life.

The technology could also be used to explore Earth's ice-bound polar lakes, which hold clues to the origins of life on Earth.

For an easier CAD to CAM handoff, combine the two.

Engineers at Grand Rapids Spring and Stamping Inc., which makes custom stampings, assemblies, and springs for the automotive industry, recently moved from separate computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing systems to an integrated application. They say it has made their work run smoother.

Chris Bloss, design manager, said he expects the new package to help the company meet the tight lead times of the automotive supply market.

Typical lead times at his company, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., average eight weeks. That schedule includes the time for design, building, and trial runs, Bloss said. The integrated CAD and CAM software allows for smooth communication and handoff between design and manufacturing with little need for translation, he said. And the smoother the handoff, the more time saved.

The software is from VX Corp. of Palm Bay, Fla.

ASME's Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle say they can control a robot's movement by brain signal. In other words, think of what you want this human-looking robot to pick up and it'll do just that.

Rajesh Rao, an associate professor of computer science and engineering, said that an individual can order a robot to move to specific locations and pick up specific objects merely by generating the proper brain waves or, simply put, by thinking.

"This suggests that one day we might be able to use robots for jobs like helping disabled people or performing routine tasks in a person's home," Rao said.

The person controlling the robot—for tests, the controller was a graduate student in Rao's lab—wears a cap dotted with 32 electrodes. The electrodes pick up brain signals from the scalp based on a technique called electroencephalography. The controller doesn't look directly at the robot. Instead, he watches the robot's movements on a computer screen as they are captured by two cameras, one mounted on the robot and another above it.

Currently, the thought commands are limited to a few basic instructions. The controller can instruct the robot to move forward, choose one of two objects, pick it up, and bring it to one of two locations. Preliminary results show the robot has 94 percent accuracy in choosing the correct object, Rao said.

Right now, the robot essentially sees objects before it via its on-board camera. Those images are conveyed to the computer screen that sits before the controller. Each of the objects the robot sees lights up randomly on the screen. When the controller looks at the object he wants the robot to pick up, it automatically brightens on the screen, thanks to a pattern of brain activity. The computer detects this brightening and conveys the choice to the robot, which picks up the object, Rao said.

Rao's team has plans to extend the research to use more complex objects and to equip the robot with skills, such as avoiding obstacles in a room. This will require more complicated commands from the controller's brain and greater autonomy on the part of the robot.

"We want to get to the point of using actual objects that people might want the robot to gather, as well as having the robot move through multiple rooms," Rao said.

The high-tech American soldier, equipped these days with computer, radio, and night-vision goggles, is a familiar image.

Less visible are the additional physical and logistical burdens associated with carrying all of that electronic equipment. Soldiers are laden with many pounds of batteries to provide power for all the technology used so effectively on today's battlefields, said Noah Manring, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Manring and another researcher are seeking to lighten that load. He and Roger Fales, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the university, said they're at work on a light, efficient, portable power generator that could replace some of those battlefield batteries.

Such a portable generator could power the military's computers, telephones, and radios, which would reduce the need to store energy in batteries, Fales said.

Manring and Fales are attempting to develop a vane motor—of the type typically used for pneumatic wrenches—that's driven by hot gas rather than compressed air. In their work, they use an academic CFD package to analyze gas flow.

"Today's vane motor derives its energy from compressed air or pressurized liquid; a hot gas-driven vane motor would get its energy from vaporized jet fuel produced by a chemical reaction," Manring said. "These sources of energy are extremely different, and require different motor designs."

The gas-driven vane motor would essentially do the job of a turbine engine, but would provide power more efficiently and weigh less than turbines. Project goals call for a motor that weighs about two-thirds of a pound.

Manring and Fales are collaborating with researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, and the International Technology Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C. They expect to release a prototype by June.

A microengine for portable power is being studied at MIT and was highlighted in the March issue. The two projects are unrelated.

Ever feel as if there's a mouse trapped in your car with you?

Researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., said they're getting close to eliminating squeaks in your car's headrest and other components. While they're minor, the squeaks are a major source of consumer dissatisfaction, the researchers said.

The headrest and its seemingly simple adjusting mechanism have proved surprisingly complex, said Douglas Adams, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue. He and Janette Jaques, a doctoral student, have simulated and analyzed rattling headrests to find designs that reduce vibration.

"If you're driving down the street and something is rattling or squeaking, the perception is that the vehicle is of poor quality," he said. "So, quality and noise and vibration sort of go hand-in-hand. Virtually every car has headrests, so this problem is particularly interesting."

Purdue University mechanical engineering doctoral student Janette Jaques attaches a sensor to a headrest mounted to a hydraulic shaker.

The same modeling and experimental techniques developed for the research could be used to reduce squeaking and rattling in other components, such as instrument panels, seats, transmission gears, suspension components, and seat belt mechanisms, he added.

"A car has thousands of parts," Adams said. "Any time you have one component sitting next to another and they're not welded together, you've got the potential for them to hit one another, causing rattling."

A vehicle's headrest is held in place by a small pin that fits into slots in one of the two posts that connect the headrest to the seat.

"It's a surprisingly complicated little system," Adams said. "The mechanism has to be rigid enough to keep the headrest from falling down, but not so rigid you can't easily adjust it. In other words, you have to put some mechanical free play into it, but you can't put too much because then it rattles."

The model that he and Jaques created has four equations corresponding to four key structural elements in the headrest system, making it possible to simulate headrest vibration. The engineers tested their model by comparing its simulations with data recorded when a car seat was shaken by hydraulic equipment. As the seat was shaken, sensors attached to various points on the headrest recorded vibration data.

Like many manufacturers, Schneider Electric sought to reduce time to market for new products and to lower product development costs.

The company, based in Rueil-Malmaison, France, makes automation systems for the automobile and water-treatment industries; builds infrastructure for airports, road and rail networks, and port facilities; and manages electric power in residential, industrial, and commercial buildings.

The company recently brought in a Web-based product lifecycle management system called Windchill from PTC of Needham, Mass., said Michel Catry, the EIS manager at Schneider Electric.

The new backbone allows the company's product development teams—located around the globe—to share mechanical, electrical, and software information. It replaces legacy systems and enables Schneider Electric to keep a single source of information to be shared internally as well as with suppliers, and with employees in its technical centers in China, India, and Mexico, Catry said.

The 250-plus engineering students in Tom Walker's introductory engineering class get notes during class directly from their professor.

This year, all of his Virginia Tech students are bringing their mandatory tablet PCs to class in addition to the usual pens and pencils. Walker writes on his own tablet PC using words similar to those he would have written on a conventional blackboard or an overhead transparency. But as Walker places the text on his computer, his words automatically appear on each of the students' wireless machines, thanks to software called DyKnow that is on all the machines. The students are then able to add notes as the professor lectures and save them for future reference. DyKnow is from the company of the same name in Indianapolis.

Students don't have to manually copy Walker's notes and talks, which allows them to focus on the concepts he's explaining, Walker said. He also uses the software to poll the students, receive instant feedback, and collect student work written in class on their tablets.

You never know when you might need a gas spring, but when you do, you want to know what it'll look like before it arrives.

Shopping for an industrial part, it turns out, is no different from buying a J. Crew sweater from a catalog. You need to see a picture of it before you can commit to ownership. Of course, industrial shoppers need to know a lot more than cut, color, and size.

International Gas Springs of Crest Hill, Ill., goes one better. It offers 3-D CAD models of its springs for download from its Web site. That way, engineers designing a piece of machinery that calls for a gas spring can pick the appropriate one and import the CAD file directly into the machine assembly drawing.

The company stocks thousands of gas springs in a variety of sizes, said Brant Pelton, general manager.

"We wanted to meet customer requests for a CAD download service to save them time and ease product selection," Pelton said.

The catalog technology that powers the online downloadable CAD selection is from Catalog Data Solutions of San Jose, Calif.

MSC.Software Corp. of Santa Ana., Calif., has released the second revision to its MD Solutions, a line of multidiscipline enterprise simulation solutions.

A maker of design communication software, Actify Inc. of San Francisco, has released SpinFire Professional 8.2, which features the addition of a Czech-language version and an improved .3D file format.

3D Systems Corp. of Rock Hill, S.C., which makes 3-D
modeling, prototyping, and manufacturing solutions, is now selling its Accura 55 Plastic, a stereolithography material.

Alibre Inc. of Richardson, Texas, is now shipping the latest release of its 3-D parametric CAD software, Alibre Design 9.2.

A maker of product lifecycle management software, UGS Corp. of Plano, Texas, has released version 51.0 of its Two-Dimensional Constraint Manager.

Moldflow Corp. of Framingham, Mass., has released Moldflow Plastics Advisers 8, a solids-based simulation software package that enables plastics-part and mold designers to validate and optimize designs for manufacturability.

Engineered Software Inc. of Lacey, Wash., which makes programs to design and simulate the operation of fluid piping systems, has released Pipe-Flo Stock 2007. The new version contains major upgrades and improvements from Stock 2005.

A maker of portable computer-aided measurement arm and laser tracker technology, Faro Technologies Inc. of Lake Mary, Fla., is now shipping Faro Scene version 4.1, which offers faster workflow and improved quality for its Laser Scanner LS product.

Proficiency Inc. of Westborough, Mass., has released version 6.0 of its Collaboration Gateway, which is CAD interoperability software.

home | features | breaking news | marketplace | departments | about ME back issues | ASME | site search

© 2007 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers