成人头条

MEMBERS: Oliver Harrison, Fernando Martinez

DEPARTMENTS: Applied Engineering/Engineering Technology

ADVISOR: Dr. Gary Brooking

SPONSOR: NIAR

The start of many automation processes begins with placing the work piece or material in the right orientation. Our senior design project aims to improve the process of this action. This project will serve as a functional demonstration for the NIAR ARC lab to showcase what can be done in-house. This is a demonstration cell to show how vison sensors in collaboration with a robtic arm and linear actuator can accurately and efficiently find the overlap of a steel culvert. Our first step will be to train the vision sensor where the overlap is located based on its appearance in different light settings. Once the sensor is trained, we will work on programing our linear actuator to move the culvert near the robot.  The robot will then recive the code and point to the location of the seam in the material. This process could be used in many cells to start further automated processing. The interactive cell will be able to identify the seam each time despite its many potential placements. The robot is functional without any human aid and is a visible process to any audience. This demonstration will entice vistors of wichita state by exhibiting the possibilities this project allows. This, in turn, could help recruit students and/or staff for 成人头条 State and NIAR.

MEMBERS: Haylee Thurman, Megan Watkins, Kaitlyn Myers, Lauren Bulcroft

DEPARTMENTS: Applied Engineering/Engineering Technology

ADVISOR: Dr. Gary Brooking

SPONSOR: NIAR

Smart Supply is working to optimize production lines through the automatization of transport between the warehouse and the worker. The current process of locating and transporting necessary parts from the warehouse to the factory line is time-consuming and inefficient. Working with Deloitte鈥檚 Smart Factory on 成人头条鈥檚 (WSU) campus, Smart Supply is integrating their current Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) for new purposes. This MiR will be used along with a Universal Robot (UR) provided by The National Institute of Aviation Research (NIAR). By using the Smart Factory鈥檚 MiR, Smart Supply will employ existing components while repurposing their current MiR to create a new and more efficient solution. The UR will be placed onto the MiR to pick up the requested parts and place onto an additional waiting conveyor which will connect with the Smart Factory鈥檚 existing production line. This collaboration of robots will effectively deliver products to and from the warehouse and working line, resulting in minimal delays. Before the Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Smart Supply estimated the production for the Smart Factory to be 150 parts per month, falling short of The Smart Factory鈥檚 goals. Through model-scale simulation and pilot testing of the new solution, a reduction in machine downtime is projected, leading to an increase in the Smart Factory鈥檚 production to 200 parts per month once implemented in the coming months. Overall, Smart Supply鈥檚 solution increases manufacturing capabilities and eliminates non-value add tasks the workers have to complete, decreasing waste in the form of time and product.

MEMBERS: Clayton Short, Cooper Larsen, Dinh Thanh Lam Nguyen, Kevin Russell

DEPARTMENTS: Applied Engineering/Engineering Technology, Mechatronics

ADVISOR: Dr. Adam Lynch

SPONSOR: AMETEK PDS

A productive, efficient and cost-effective manufacturing process is essential for any company to be profitable. A local company鈥檚 actuator department has had issues in being able to meet their monthly quotas without having to utilize overtime hours for their workers near the end of each month. Our team used lean tools as well as operational management tools to identify areas where the team can improve the efficiency of the assembly process which will increase productivity, improve quality, and ultimately increase profits. Witnessing the build process of one of their actuators we were able to apply our tools to build a workflow process and identify changes to increase productivity. The particular actuator is the most built actuator by their department and its increased build efficiency is the first step towards their department reliably completing their monthly quotas. Our project also lays out a process that if applied to other areas of the local company鈥檚 manufacturing processes, would further improve the department to their efficiency expectations and possibly exceed those expectations.

MEMBERS: Maite Menendez, Grayson Graham, Hung Nguyen, Ainsley Altenbern

DEPARTMENTS: Applied Engineering/Engineering Technology, Entrepreneurship

ADVISOR: Nathan Smith

3-Axis 3D Printers have been around for over a decade and have become easy to use. However, there are limiting factors when printing structural parts on a 3-axis printer. The shear strength between layers is significantly weaker than the material strength.  5-axis printers can bridge that gap by being able to lay material in more than two directions. VAXIS aims to bring an affordable 5-axis 3D printer to the market, allowing more people to create stronger parts with more intricate designs. Furthermore, a 5-axis 3D printer can create parts with less support, allowing users to save on material usage. 
By utilizing proven designs from current CNC routers, as well as proven parts on existing 3D printers, our solution is adding everything together and including a rotary table. With this design, VAXIS would be able to reduce manufacturing costs and offer a 3D printer at a price never seen before. The overall goal is to bring expensive and uncommon technology to the largest group of manufacturers. 
This 3D printer plans to bridge the gap between expensive, industrial grade additive manufacturing and consumer grade FDM printing. With the ability to create stronger complex geometries, VAXIS wants to unlock new creative possibilities for hobbyists and small-scale innovators. 

MEMBERS: Michael Zalewski, Wiley Hutcheson, Jose Lerma

DEPARTMENTS: Applied Engineering/Engineering Technology, Business

ADVISOR: Dr. Gary Brooking

Industrial robotic automation faces a persistent challenge, robotic singularities, which occur when multi-axis joints align causing loss of accuracy, mechanical wear, and complicates programming. Traditional solutions rely on joint movement pathing, which reduces accuracy and delays deployment. Nerve Robotics introduces an innovative neural network-based control system that eliminates singularities, optimizing motion paths for 
seamless robotic automation. Unlike conventional kinematic control methods, neural networks dynamically adapt to positional data, ensuring accurate and efficient movement. Similar to human motion, the system continuously adjusts joint values without the need for complex calculations. Once trained the path can be reliably reproduced. Integrated as a custom add-in for ABB鈥檚 RobotStudio, this allows for compatibility with all of ABB鈥檚 robotic arms and seamlessly integrates into programmer's workflow. Customers benefit from reduced programming time, improved efficiency, and minimized mechanical wear, resulting in lower operational costs.

Preliminary testing demonstrates significant improvements in motion path reliability, reducing programming time by an estimated 20% and mitigating downtime due to singularities. The scalable model allows businesses to pay based on computational usage, providing a cost-effective automation enhancement. With the industrial robotics market expanding, the adoption of intelligent, adaptable control solutions presents a competitive 
advantage.

Future development aims to refine neural network efficiency and expand compatibility across different robotic platforms. By eliminating singularities, this technology redefines robotic automation, ensuring a smarter, more efficient future.