Title:

Algebraic Synthesis of Mechanisms and Robots

Lecturer:

Prof. J.Michael McCarthy

Time:

10:00, September 24,  2016

Venue:

Auditorium, Library, North Campus

Lecturer  Profile

Professor J.Michael McCarthy is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers  (ASME) and a world leader in kinematics and mechanisms design. Professor  McCarthy received the 2008 ASME Outstanding Service Award, the 2009 ASME  Machine Design Award, and the 2011 ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Award for his  lifelong contribution to theory and design in mechanisms and robotics. In 2013  he received Robert E. Abbott Lifetime Service Award from the Design Engineering  Division of ASME International. He is the Director of UCI’s Performance  Engineering Program at the University of California, Irvine.  His  contributions in teaching were recognized by the Henry Samueli School of  Engineering’s 2009 Faribor Maseeh Teaching Award and in 2010 by the UCI Teaching  Excellence in Undergraduate Engineering Award.
Professor McCarthy has over 150 publications and three books including  Introduction to Theoretical Kinematics (1990), and The Geometric Design of  Linkages (Springer 2000, 2nd Ed. 2010). These two books have been highly cited  in the world. Professor McCarthy served as the Editor-in-Chief of the ASME  Journal of Mechanical Design (2002-2007) and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of  the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics (2007-2015).

Lecture  Abstract

This  presentation describes the modern formulation of the kinematic synthesis  equations for four-bar, six-bar and eight-bar linkages that is well-adapted to  polynomial homotopy solutions and is providing new opportunities for  innovation.  The generalization of this approach to spherical and spatial  linkages is the focus of current research.  An overwhelming challenge is  the rapid growth in the degree of the polynomial systems that must be solved  and new strategies are needed to make this synthesis methodology useful to  designers.  At the same time the dramatic increase in the size of the  design space for these devices makes computer-based invention a valuable tool  for innovation.