August 19, 2011
UBC’s Collaborative Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory (CARIS) — led by Mechanical Engineering Prof. Elizabeth Croft – has acquired a new human friendly robot. UBC is the first Canadian university to work with the PR2 model from Willow Garage, a U.S.-based developer of personal robot open source software and hardware.
Dubbed Charlie by the CARIS team, the advanced robot research system navigates indoors at walking speed, handles customary workplace and home obstacles, lifts a 10 kilogram load in each hand, and reaches from the floor to a two-metre high shelf. As well, Charlie has a “soft touch,” ideal for Croft’s research on robot assistant behaviours for manufacturing assembly and home healthcare assistance. For more information, visit: http://caris-ubc.blogspot.com/2011/08/pr2-arrives-at-caris-and-lcicrl-labs-in.html
August 3, 2011
Parisa Bastani (BASc’09, MECH) has been awarded the Commonwealth Doctoral Scholarship from the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP), an international program in which member governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. She is one of two recipients of the scholarship this year; candidates are selected from seventeen Commonwealth countries.
Bastani is currently studying Engineering and Public Policy jointly at Cambridge University and MIT. While attending UBC, she was the Formula SAE team leader and the Engineering Student Team Council Chair. She also participated in numerous activities such as peer mentoring and sitting on various academic and extracurricular advisory committees. Since her first year at UBC, she was consistently listed on the Dean’s Honour list and in 2009 was named a Wesbrook scholar, UBC’s most prestigious student designation. Shortly after graduating in 2009, she received UBC’s Outstanding Future Alumnus Award at the 15th annual UBC Alumni Achievement Awards Gala.
The CSFP was established at the first Commonwealth education conference in 1959 and is reviewed by education ministers at their triennial meetings – the only scholarship scheme in the world to receive such high-level recognition. For more information on CSFP, visit:
http://www.csfp-online.org
July 29, 2011
This week, UBC was host to the 2011 PACE Global Annual Forum, a conference with the theme Collaborative Strategies to Address Global Challenges. PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) links “GM, Autodesk, HP, Oracle, Siemens PLM Software, and their global operations, to support strategically selected academic institutions worldwide to develop the automotive product lifecycle management (PLM) team of the future”. Alan Steeves and Jon Mikkelson from Mechanical Engineering are two of the conference’s co-hosts.
Featured at this conference for its debut in Vancouver was the new hybrid Chevy Volt. GM Manager of Advanced Technology and R&D and PACE Canadian Representative Marc Boismenu was very excited to share some details about their new innovated vehicle that, unlike many other hybrids, uses an electric motor. This motor is powered by a 16kwh lithium ion battery pack that can take you 60km on one charge. An additional gas generator is there for when the battery runs out. A regenerative breaking system is also present to further increase efficiency of the vehicle. GM was happy to let Dr. Sheldon Green, Mechanical Engineering Head, take the volt out for a test spin around UBC as well.
June 30, 2011
The UBC Thunderbots are leaving for Istanbul, Turkey this July 1st to represent UBC and Canada in the International RoboCup Competition and Conference.
The team will be competing in the Small Sized League division, where they create autonomous soccer playing robots to play robot soccer against teams from around the world. The team and their league work on research and development in robotics and artificial intelligence. This year, the team will be bringing a fleet of 10 robots to Turkey which they have designed and built.
The UBC Thunderbots placed 11th last year in Robocup 2010, Singapore, in a league with 30 teams. This year however, in the regional North American Open, the UBC Thunderbots were undefeated. With many improvements, including the mechanical development of multi-directional kickers never seen before in the league, the team is hoping for a top 6 finish in Turkey.
Check out https://www.robocup.org/ for more information, blog updates from Turkey, and live video streaming of their games.
June 3, 2011
UBC Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Altintas has received the Gold Medal Award from Engineers Canada—the highest recognition of its kind in engineering in Canada—bestowed for his exceptional individual achievement and distinction in the field of machining and machine tools.
Dr. Altintas received an NSERC Strategic Networks grant last year, to lead the NSERC Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology (CANRIMT). Dr. Altintas holds an NSERC-Pratt & Whitney Canada Industrial Research Chair in Virtual High-performance Machining and is the leading scientific authority in machining and machine tool control engineering worldwide. He has also published a senior undergraduate- and graduate-level textbook titled “Manufacturing Automation: Principles of Metal Cutting, Machine Tool Vibrations and CNC Design”. The CANRIMT Network will receive $5 million from NSERC and $400,000 from industry over five years, and includes 20 researchers from seven universities in B.C., Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. Approximately 100 engineers are expected to be trained through the network.
Dr. Altintas has received recognition from around the world and numerous honors and awards for the global impact of his scholarly work. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Pratt & Whitney Canada, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the International Academy of Production Engineering Researchers (CIRP), the international Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Tokyo University. He has received an Honorary Degree from the University of Stuttgart; and in October, he received the APEGBC R.A. McLachlan Memorial Prize—the highest honour that can be bestowed on a B.C. engineer in recognition of his outstanding professional and community service.
He was honoured at the Engineers Canada Awards Gala held at the Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax on March 28, 2011.
About Engineers Canada
Engineers Canada is the national organization of the 12 provincial and territorial associations that regulate the practice of engineering in Canada and license the country’s more than 160,000 professional engineers. For more information, visit: http://www.engineerscanada.ca
Congratulations Dr. Altintas on this huge achievement.
June 2, 2011
This $2500 scholarhip is for students planning on pursuing a career in geosciences or engineering. Selection is based on academic achievement, extracurricular activities, references, financial need and your written statement outlining reasons for entering the profession. Applications must be received no later than June 27.
Download applications here.
You can also email Amit Plaha for more information: aplaha@apeg.bc.ca
May 25, 2011
Vancouver, Canada—May 16, 2011—UBC Mechanical Engineering students Kevin Lowe, Hengameh Hoseini, Rory Moglove and Andrea Slade have been awarded the 2011 Dr. Jim McEwen Excellence in Engineering Design Award from the ALS Society of British Columbia for their Assistive Reading Device for People Living with ALS. The students are supervised by Professors Antony Hodgson and Craig Hennessey. A $5000 prize accompanies their award.
May 12, 2011
The UBC Supermileage Team came home from the 2011 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas late last month. They achieved 4th place with 214 mpg in their urban concept car, the Argo. This year marked the second year that the team competed with their concept car, moving towards a more practical vehicle design after retiring their competition winning prototype vehicle.
The Argo also has a feature photo on National Geographic Daily News, seen here.
For more information about the team, visit www.supermileage.ca.
May 11, 2011
Mechanical Engineer Professor Dr. Ian Frigaard has been awarded the 2011 CAIMS/MITACS Industrial Mathematics Prize. This award recognizes exceptional research, conducted primarily in Canada, in any branch of industrial mathematics.
Dr. Frigaard is being recognized for his distinguished contributions to the theory of the dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids, and for the industrial application of that theory in the context of the mathematical modeling of oil well construction. As described in the prize citation, “Dr. Friagaards research is not only inspired by industrial problems but it also contributes to help the industry progress and is frequently conducted in collaboration with industrial partners”.
You may view the entire citation here.
Congratulations Dr. Frigaard
