Research
Summary
My fundamental interests relate to predicting, planning, tracking, and executing precise movement and shape change with respect to time.
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3D Reconstruction of Additive Processes
Abstract
Despite the overwhelming growth and adoption of AM technology worldwide, the fundamental methods used commercially for gross part fabrication and part assessment remain largely unchanged from AM's early inception in the 1980s. While new additive systems increasingly incorporate telemetry and visual sensing, this information is rarely used to quantitatively assess part quality. This research explores the use of telemetry feedback in conjunction with visual and infrared imagery collected during the printing process to create tomographic reconstructions of printed parts.
Project Sponsor(s)
- Office of Naval Research Naval Materials S&T Division
Collaborators
- John Donnal, USNA
- Lenny Davis, USNA 2021
Project Alumni
- K. Fritts, ONR Navy Reserve
- Q. Harrison, USNA 2018
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Conformal Additive Manufacturing
Abstract
Top-of-the-line metallic Directed Energy Deposition (DED) systems (e.g. BeAM MAGIC 2.0) include 5 actuated degrees of freedom (DOF) between the tool head and build object. While this results in a system capable of otherwise implausible features, it unnecessarily constrains feature geometry and requires stationary mounting of the machine. This research aims to show that expanding the number of actuated DOF between the tool head and build object to the point of redundancy will result in a system capable of extraplanar, conformal deposition and deployment in dynamic environments (e.g. at sea).
Project Sponsor(s)
- Office of Naval Research Naval Materials S&T Division
Collaborators
- Levi DeVries, USNA
- Prof. Greg Chirikjian, JHU
- Josh Davis, JHU
- Greg Dreifus, MIT
- Prashant Gupta, WSU
Project Alumni
- J. Thode, ONR Navy Reserve
- A. Tresansky, ONR Navy Reserve
- K. Fritts, ONR Navy Reserve
- E. Follett, USNA 2019
- J. Gainer, USNA 2018
- Q. Harrison, USNA 2018
- C. Blas, USNA 2017
- K. Strotz, USNA 2016
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Self-sustaining Swarms for Persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
Abstract
Recent years have shown an increased prevalence of unmanned systems on the battle field and an increased interest of department of defense agencies in the deployment of these systems. Unmanned vehicles are primarily deployed for intelligence gathering applications and generally require one or more operators to accomplish a mission. Small, squad-level systems are typically limited by flight duration, and large-scale systems typically require a team of operators in conjunction with a ground crew to successfully deploy. This research focuses on leveraging low-cost commercial off the shelf hardware to create a highbred approach to intelligence gathering, using a biologically inspired approach.
Collaborators
- Levi DeVries, USNA
Project Alumni
- J. Gainer, USNA 2018
- S. Johnson, USNA 2017
- R. Stroup, USNA 2017
- K. Strotz, USNA 2016
- D. Brainerd, USNA 2015
- A. Edmond, USNA 2015
- L. Jarreau, USNA 2015
- A. Lewis, USNA 2015
- C. Perez, USNA 2015
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Shape Adapting Underwater Vehicles
Project P.I.
Abstract
Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have shown great promise in fulfilling surveillance, scavenging, and monitoring tasks, but can be hindered in expansive, cluttered or obstacle ridden environments. Traditional gliders and streamlined AUVs are designed for long term operational efficiency in expansive environments, but are hindered in cluttered spaces due to their design and control authority; agile AUVs can penetrate cluttered or sensitive environments but are limited in operational endurance. This research focuses on the development, modeling, and control of a bio-inspired shape adapting vehicle leveraging techniques from continuum and soft robotics.
Project Alumni
- A. Bass, USNA 2016
- R. Richmond, USNA 2016
- W. Satre, USNA 2016
