2021 Student Mechanism & Robot Design Competition (SMRDC)

Part of 2021 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC)

45th Annual Mechanisms & Robotics Conference

August 17 – 20, 2021 ~ ONLINE

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Winners' announcement of the SMRDC 2021

Graduate Group:

1st place: An In-situ Collaborative Robot for Manufacturing in Confined Spaces, Andrew L. Orekhov, Garrison L. H. Johnston, Colette Abah, Vanderbilt University
2nd place: A High Precision Mirror Symmetric XY Positioner, Jiaxiang Zhu, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
3rd place: A Modular, Open-Source Continuum Manipulator for Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles, Justin Sitler, Stevens Institute of Technology

Undergraduate Group:

1st place: Heavy Lift and Carry Exoskeleton, Hunter Andrieu, Nabra Asgedom, Sarah Bresnahan, Sanghyeon Chang, Bonham Ekleberry, Sara Elnahhas, Nathan Folta, Adam Hinson, John Kuempel, Brita Lyons, Jakob Lyons, Austin Petty, Ben Wardach, Zhao Yu, Virginia Tech
2nd place: Design, Fabrication, and Verification of a Compliant Ankle Rehabilitation Robot (Flex-ARR), Adam Kim, University of Michigan
3rd place: Coupled Finger Robot, Jacob Shapiro, University of Notre Dame

Congratulations!

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About

The ASME Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition (SMRDC) is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their ability to design and build a mechanism or a robot.

For this competition, a mechanism is defined as:

"Any device that transmits a force or a motion to perform a mechanical task. It may consist of rigid or deformable bodies connected with kinematic or flexural joints. It may be constructed of any type of materials, including smart and other active materials. It may be actuated by means of any transduction principle and employ any form of energy input. The size of the device can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale."

A robot is defined as:

"An electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. A robot should be able to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a mechanical linkage, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior, such as behavior that mimics humans or other animals. The size of a robot can range from the nano-scale to macro-scale."

The competition comprises two rounds:

Round 1 (Qualifying Round): Participants submit a Letter of Intent and a written report on their entry. All entries are evaluated by a panel of judges chosen from academe and industry. The top five entries in each category qualify for the next round.

Round 2 (Demo and Presentation): This round will be virtually held at the 2021 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences from August 17 – 20, 2021. Each team will be required to make: