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 (LoI) 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 held at the 2019 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Aneheim, California from August 18-21, 2019.  Each team will be required to make:

1. Oral presentation (5 minutes only) describing their entry
2. Interactive poster and prototype presentation

Important Dates

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Email reports and letters of intent to: vvikas at ua dot edu with '[ASME SMRDC 2019]' in the subject line.

Letter of Intent:  Extended to May 31, 2019 (Friday) 11:59 PM PST 

Final Written Report: Extended to June 23, 2019 (Sunday) 11:59 PST

Notification of Finalists:  July 5, 2019 (Friday)
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Final Round: August 18-21, 2019 

Competition Rules

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Eligibility

Any graduate or undergraduate registered as a full-time student through the Spring of 2019 is eligible to participate.  Both individual and group projects are welcome.  An individual may participate in several entries provided each submission is on a different subject.

Submission

The required documents are to be emailed to vvikas at ua dot edu with the subject '[ASME SMRDC 2019]'

Judging

​The letter of intent will NOT be evaluated.  It is required only to enable the organizing committee arrange for judging. The project reports will be evaluated by multiple judges chosen from both industry and academe. Guidelines for the Letter of Intent and the Report are on the Submissions page. Up to five finalists will be selected from each of the two divisions – undergraduate and graduate. Criteria for choosing the finalists will be based on the Final Report Scoring Rubric. Travel expenses to the conference will be the responsibility of the participant(s) or the faculty sponsor, although an effort will be made to allocate some money to help defray travel expenses.  

Rules for Judging the Finalists

There will be two aspects towards judging the finalists

1) Four-minute presentation: Each team will be allowed 2 MS Powerpoint slides and allotted approximately 4 minutes for their presentation.  Questions will not be taken immediately, but during a short Q&A session for all teams together.  

2) Poster session: This approximately an hour long, and is open to the judges and general audience. Tables will be provided for prototypes.  The participants are encouraged to show videos and demonstrate their mechanisms or robots. 

​Information for participants

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Documents

Letter of Intent
The Letter of Intent should include:

• Project title
• Name(s) of the participant(s) 
• One contacting postal address 
• One e-mail address
• University affiliation(s)
• Category – Undergraduate or Graduate
• 100-200 word description of the project
• Faculty sponsor’s signed letter stating the eligibility of the student(s) to participate

Final Written Report
The Final Written report consists of two separate documents + a video submission:
1.  A Cover Page including (Judges will NOT see the Cover Page)

• Project title
• Name(s) of the participant(s)
• One contacting postal address
• One e-mail address
• University affiliation
• Category – Undergraduate or Graduate
• Faculty sponsor’s name
• Acknowledgments, by name (optional)

2.  A Project description including: (Do not mention your name(s) or affiliation anywhere in the project description)

• Brief background
• Functional description of the mechanism/robot
• Clear statement of the novel features of the mechanism/robot
• Procedures used to design the mechanism/robot
• Benefits and possible applications of the mechanism/robot
• Acknowledgment of help from others including faculty, machine shop personnel, laboratory technicians, etc.  Do not mention names!
• All appropriate figures, tables, photographs, etc, incorporated into the document

3.  Video Submission: (Do not mention your name(s) or affiliation anywhere in the video)

• A video of the entry must be submitted.
• Up to 30 seconds in length.
• Both video content and production quality will be judged.
• Can include recorded video, animations, simulations, etc.

The Cover Page and the Project Description should be submitted as two separate PDF files.

The project description should be roughly 1000 – 2000 words in length, prepared with a word processor, and submitted in PDF electronic format.  The report must be no longer than 10 pages, including images, but not including the cover page.  Participants may format the report in any way they like to maximize the readability and presentation of the technical content.  Please contact the competition coordinators if you have any questions in this regard.  

Winners from previous years

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Year: 2018

Graduate Category
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1. "Novel Pin Array Universal Grippers for Self-adaptation and Dense-contact Grasping”
   An Mo, Jingwei Su, Chao Luo and Hong Fu, Tsinghua University
   
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2. “A Self-Deployable Self-Stiffening and Retractable Space Structure (SDSR) Mechanism”
   Nathan Pehrson and Sam Smith, Brigham Young University
   
   
   
3. “Retractable Anti-Buckling Support Tube for Medical Robotics”
   Brandon Sargent and Nathan Brown, Brigham Young University​

Undergraduate Category
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1. “VGT ROBOT: A Novel Obstacle-avoiding Pipeline Robot with Variable Geometry Truss”
   Wenxiang Zhao, Guojie Hua, Juewei He, Xiongbin, Tsinghua University
   
   
   
2. “A Novel Worm-inspired Wall Climbing Robot with Sucker-microspine Composite Structure”
   Wenhao Yang, Chengle Yang, Ruijie Zhang, Tsinghua University
   
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3. “DSCL Hand: A Novel Linear Parallel and Self-adaptive Underactuated Robot Hand”
   Xiaofeng Guo, Yunwei Xiang, Hu Yan, Tsinghua University

Year: 2013

Mechanisms - Graduate Category

1. "Assured Safety Drill with Bi-Stable Bit Retraction Mechanism"
   Paul Loschak, Hao Pei, and Kecha Xiao, Harvard University
   
   
2. "Second Place: Monolithic Two-Degree-of-Freedom Pointing Mechanism (The Hepta-Flex)"
   Ezekiel G. Merriam, Brigham Young University
   
   
3. "A Contact-aided Composite Compliant Mechanism to Clamp and Stretch Soft Objects"
   Santosh Bhargav, present online from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

​Mechanisms - Undergraduate Category

1. "ORICEPS Origami-Inspired Robotic Forceps"
   Clayton Grames, Bryce Edmondson, Eric Call, Landen Bowen, Terri Bateman, Brigham Young University
   
   
2. "3D-Printable Compliant Control Valve"
   Weston Baxter, Zach Brough, Mitch Hortin, Joshua Kuhn, Jason Lund, Brigham Young University
   
   
3. "Design of a Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle"
   Jeff Kohler, Ohio State University

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Robotics - Graduate Category

1. "A Quasi-Passive Compliant Stance Control Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis"
   Kamran Shamaei, Yale University 
   
   
2. "Development of a Compliant Robotic Arm for Sensitive Manipulation"
   Nigel Cochran, Worcester polytechnic
   
   
3. "A Gyroscopic Actuator for Turning Humanoid Robots"
   Andrew Boddiford, Charlie Manion, Kwan Suk-Kim, Pradeep Radhakrishnan , University of Texas at Austin

Robotics - Undergraduate Category

1. "Remote Controlled Robotic Firefighting System"
   Robert Richardson, Christopher Graf, Devon Hall, Matthew Lubaszka, Julianne Rudmann, College of New Jersey
   
   
2. "Underactuated End Effector with Novel Linkage System  for Full-Sized Humanoid Robot"
   Michael Rouleau, Michael Heller, Matthew Frauenthal, Virginia Tech
   
   
3. "Small Autonomous Monitoring Platform for Lakes and Estuaries"
   Moustapha Diab, Uche Ezechi, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Year: 2012

​Mechanisms - Graduate Division

1. "A Large-Displacement Compliant Rotational Hinge"
   Robert Fowler, Brigham Young University
   
   
2. "A Tri-state Rigid Reversible and Non- Back-Drivable Docking Mechanism for Modular Robotics Applications"
   Paul Mubarak, George Washington University
   
   
3. "Adjustable stiffness structure Mechanism Using an Endoskeleton"
   Tae Myung Huh and Yong-Jai Park, Seoul National University
   
   
4. "Underactuated Passive and Adaptive Gripper using Flexure Buckling"
   Gwang-Pil Jung, Seoul National University
   
   
5. "Zero Stiffness Linear Motion with Large Orthogonal and Out-of-plane Stiffness"
   Nima Tolou, Delft University of Technology

Robotics - Undergraduate

1. "Oryx 2.0: A Mobility Platform for Analog Planetary Exploration "
   Joseph Amato, Jon Anderson, Thomas Carlone, and Michael Fagan, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
   
   
2. "Highly-Anthropomorphic-Grasping Under-Actuated Robotic Hand with Naturally Coupled States"
   Chi Zhang, Bowen Li, Ye Kuang, and Jian Jin, Tsinghua University

Robotics - Graduate

1. "Miniature In Vivo Surgical Robot for Single-Incision Surgery"
   Jack Mondry, Thomas Frederick, Eric Markvicka, and Joseph Bartels, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
   
   
2. "A single motor actuated miniature steerable jumping robot"
   Jianguo Zhao, Michigan State University
   
   
3. "REconfigurable MObile Robot for manufacturing Applications (REMORA)"
   Yang Hai, UM2/CNRS
   
   
4. "Kraken"
   Marcello Calisti and Andrea Arienti, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy

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Organizing Committee

• Brian Slaboch
  Middle Tennessee State University
  Email: Brian dot Slaboch at mtsu dot edu
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• Nilanjan Chakraborty
  University of Stony Brook
  Email: nilanjan dot chakraborty at stonybrook dot edu
  
  
• Vishesh Vikas
  University of Alabama
  Email: vishesh dot vikas at ua dot edu