UPDATE: The following Tutorials have been canceled due to low enrollment. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Tutorial 2: Product Intelligence: Decision Support and Execution for the Product Lifecycle

Tutorial 3: Mesh-free Analysis and Optimization with Distances

Tutorial 5: Introduction to Transdisciplinary Design and Process: Fundamental Concepts, Application Strategies, and Industrial Examples

Tutorial 6: Design of Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Sensors

Tutorial 7: Planar, Rigid-Body Mechanism Synthesis Using Geometric Constraint Programming

Sunday, September 10, 2006

This tutorial will provide an overview of the application of the principles of analysis and design of mechanisms to improving the scientific understanding of proteins and opportunities for engineering-oriented research in this area. The tutorial will begin by providing the background on protein structure, function and sequence without assuming much prior knowledge in biology. This will be followed by presenting the methods that were originally developed to address problems in the field of robot kinematics and how they can be applied to biophysical problems such as the analysis of conformational entropy of biopolymers and the animation of conformational transitions in multidomain proteins. The next part of the tutorial focuses on an engineering approach, which is based on topology optimization of structures and compliant mechanisms, to protein sequence-design. A brief discussion on the application of graph spectral methods to extract the topological content of folded conformations is also included. Open problems and future directions of the speakers' work will also be highlighted. The intended audience include researchers from the mechanism and robotics, design automation and other design engineering division's committees. Handouts containing the basic background and overview material will be given to the participants.

TUT2: Product Intelligence: Decision Support and Execution for the Product Lifecycle
Ravi Rangan, Centric Software
Time: 9:00am to 12:30pm

This tutorial will introduce product lifecycle concepts and solutions based on product intelligence and Search-powered PLM - a proven means to addressing business pain in many industries and realizing product lifecycle information coverage, rapid deployments and targeted business benefits. These solutions unite global multi-disciplinary product and project teams and present teams with live business and product information for better decisions and optimal program execution. We will review business motivations, implementation drivers, first principles and solution techniques, business process patterns, industry case studies, and trends in PLM and Product Intelligence, including system demonstrations and team exercises.

TUT3: Meshfree Analysis and Optimization With Distances
Vadim Shapiro, University of Wisconsin; Igor Tsukanov, University of Wisconsin
Time: 9:00am to 12:30pm

This tutorial will introduce the use of distances to substantially improve and simplify many computational tasks in engineering analysis and shape optimization. In particular, use of distances allows to transform traditional finite-element based solutions into essentially mesh-free procedures. This, in turn, allows substantial advances in automated analysis, shape-material optimization, and analysis of reversed engineered artifacts. The tutorial introduces all required theoretical background, describes implementation, and allows hands-on experience with developed software. In particular, tutorial will be focused on the following topics:

(1) modeling shape and boundary conditions with distance fields;
(2) interpolating boundary conditions;
(3) meshfree solution of analysis problems; and
(4) application of the meshfree computational technology with distance fields to analysis, material modeling, shape optimization and reverse engineering.

This tutorial aims to engineering faculty, students and engineers.

TUT4: Real-Time Linux for Control of Mechatronic Systems
Frederick M. Proctor, NIST; Harry H. Cheng, University of California Davis
Time: 9:00am to 12:30pm

This tutorial will describe how the free Linux operating system can be used for high-performance real-time control, and explain some real-time software principles including threads, mutual exclusion, synchronization and communication. Integration of real-time Linux with Ch, an embeddable C/C++ interpreter, for interactive control of mechatronic systems will also be described. The concepts will be illustrated with examples and demonstrations with mechatronic systems including radio control servos, an LED wand clock and a stepper motor cable robot. The tutorial is intended for engineering practitioners who design, build or use computer control systems for mechatronics applications, including laboratory, classroom or industrial applications.

TUT5: Introduction to Transdisciplinary Design and Process: Fundamental Concepts, Application Strategies, and Industrial Examples
Derrick Tate, Texas Tech
Time: 9:00am to 12:30pm

This tutorial presents a framework for transdisciplinary education and research that draws upon the experience of implementing a graduate program over the past eight years, primarily, for the aerospace industry. Within many fields, such as medicine, biosciences, and cognitive science, there is growing awareness of the need for transdisciplinary approaches. Likewise, engineering education and research need to be supplemented by a fundamentally new way of addressing the multidimensional, complex problems that society faces today. Because of the nature of modern engineering systems, traditional disciplinary approaches have proven inadequate, and researchers and educators are transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries to explore complementary approaches in order to fundamentally change the way products are developed. The objective of this tutorial is to provide engineers with tools for design, analysis, and research to advance the practice of engineering design. Topics will be studied interactively, emphasizing practical applications, and include the following: Introduction and motivation, Transdisciplinary concepts, Collecting and analyzing customer needs, Concept generation and selection, Design Matrices, Decoupling, Design Process and project planning, and Complexity. The target audience includes practicing engineers who wish to get an overview of the subject, researchers and academics who want to learn about the relationship of transdisciplinary design to other design theories and methods, and anyone who wants to learn how transdisciplinary design has been used in practice to create new designs; diagnose and improve existing designs; and save time, money, and effort in product development.

TUT6: Design of Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Sensors
Nakhiah Goulbourne, Virginia Tech
Time: 1:30pm to 5:00pm

This tutorial focuses on the design of sensing and actuation systems using electroactive polymers. Electroactive polymers are materials that respond to an electric field to exhibit useful actuation and or sensing behavior. The transduction mechanisms of dielectric elastomer actuators, piezoelectric polymers, and electrostrictive materials will be covered. Fundamental modeling tools will be introduced and important design parameters will be elucidated for these systems. Practical engineering applications and the current state of the art will be discussed. Some of the specific topics that will be covered include: an overview of electroactive polymers, electromechanical coupling mechanisms, constitutive relations, and design methodologies. The intended audience includes researchers, scholars, and students with some background in solid mechanics.

TUT7: Planar, Rigid-Body Mechanism Synthesis Using Geometric Constraint Programming
Jim Schmiedeler, Ohio State University
Time: 1:30pm to 5:00pm

This tutorial's broad objective is to demonstrate how the planar sketching mode of most parametric CAD software can be used for advanced synthesis of planar, rigid-body mechanisms. These techniques are known generally as geometric constraint programming because the CAD package's graphical user interface allows the synthesis problem to be "programmed" in a straightforward, intuitive manner through application of geometric constraints within a kinematic diagram. Geometric constraint programming leverages the ability of the software's constraint manager to organize the underlying nonlinear equations and the speed of the software's numerical solvers in solving these equations. The procedure exhibits the accuracy and repeatability of analytical techniques, yet provides the geometric insight developed with graphical techniques. Topics will include a general introduction to geometric constraint programming and its application to motion generation for finitely-, infinitesimally-, and multiply-separated positions, path generation, function generation, and non-traditional synthesis problems. The intended audience consists of researchers who work in mechanism synthesis, designers in industry who design planar mechanisms, educators who teach planar kinematics, and students studying and/or conducting research in kinematics. Since this tutorial is to be fully interactive, participants who have access to a notebook computer with parametric CAD software are encouraged to bring it to the tutorial. Time will be allocated throughout the tutorial for participants to implement the presented techniques in their own software on their own computers with the assistance of the organizer.

TUT8: Numerical Methods Using Excel/VBA For Engineers
David G. Lilley, Oklahoma State University
Time: 1:30pm to 5:00pm

The objective is to provide attendees with the knowledge and ability to solve basic engineering problems using the Excel/VBA environment. Visual Basic for Applications VBA is the computer programming facility that resides behind the Excel spreadsheet. Benefits and drawbacks of this approach versus alternative approaches will be addressed. Participants will appreciate how numerical methods can be used in basic engineering applications, for the simulation and solution of problems. Emphasis is on the methods and applications, using Excel as the interface for data input and output, tables and figures, and VBA as the programming language for computations. The tutorial covers the fundamental topics of solving sets of equations, differentiation and integration of functions, and applications to the solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, together with auxiliary topics of graphics and curve fitting. The tutorial is intended for newcomers to the field, like senior undergraduate and graduate students, educators wanting to learn about the approach for subsequent teaching purposes, and application engineers who want to understand and apply the methods to their particular applied problems. Participants will learn how to develop the expertise and confidence to apply the techniques. A set of working Excel/VBA computer programs will be supplied, and these can be modified later by participants to solve similar but different problems.

TUT9: Level Set Methods and Implicit Models for Geometric and Physical Modeling, Processing and Optimization
Michael Yu Wang, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Time: 1:30pm to 5:00pm

This tutorial introduces level set methods and implicit dynamic models for the application in geometric and physical modeling, processing and optimization. Specifically, we will review the basic concept of level set method and implicit dynamic models and their computational schemes of coupled geometric evolution and/or partial differential equations. We will discuss their features including strong regularity in problem formulation, topological flexibility, and inherent capabilities of geometric, physical and material modeling, incorporating dimension, shape, topology, material properties, and even micro-structures within a common framework for design, processing and optimization of the geometric and physical objects. We will introduce applications in the following areas: (1) optimization of multi-material structures, (2) materials design, (3) compliant mechanism synthesis, and (4) geometric model reconstruction and processing from scattered measurement data. The tutorial is intended for educators, students, researchers and engineers in the area of geometric modeling, geometric processing, CAD, structural optimization, topology optimization, materials in design, compliant mechanisms, design automation, and automotive and aerospace structures. A set of Power Point presentation handouts and an education paper will be distributed. An educational software program of level set method will be made available to the participants.