Research Associate Professor Anurag Purwar (PI) and Professor Jeffrey Ge (co-PI) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook received a prestigious three-year award from the National Science Foundation for their research, “A Computational Framework for Data-Driven Mechanism Design Innovation.” Purwar is director of the Computer-Aided Design Innovation Lab at Stony Brook and Ge is interim chair of the Department and directs the Computational Design Kinematics Lab.
The research will bring together the diverse fields of reverse engineering, computational shape analysis and design kinematics to develop a data-driven paradigm for kinematic synthesis of mechanical motion generation devices. The goal is to advance the science of mechanism design, leading to practical and efficient design tools capable of solving highly complex motion generation problems faced by machine designers. Central to this research is the creation of a new computational framework for simultaneous type and dimensional synthesis of various mechanisms.
Recent trends in democratization of manufacturing capability — such as do-it-yourself hobby shops, 3D printing technology, as well as low-cost sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers — call for a corresponding democratization of design tools that can help engineers innovate and invent motion-generating devices. Motion generation is a fundamental aspect of machines, at the heart of which are kinematic mechanisms that make it possible for motions to be transmitted or transformed. A kinematic mechanism is a collection of moving pieces linked together through kinematic joints such as hinge joints and sliders.
This award supports the development of a set of web-based, data-driven design tools that unify the type and dimensional synthesis for mechanism design innovation. The planned MOOC (massive open online course) will help bring these tools to the masses and help promote interest in science and engineering including high school students and those from under-represented groups.
Watch Anurag Purwar’s TEDxSBU talk on Machine Design Innovation through Technology and Education.
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