Mechanical Engineering: "Micro-robots and airplanes with FEA"
Thorbjörn Ebefors - Department of Signals, Sensors and Systems, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
The secret and the common denominator behind improving a number of wide-ranging applications, such airplanes and micro-robots, is a small plastic hinge initially designed for mobile sensors in measuring equipment for aerodynamic flows.
Thorbjörn Ebefors´ doctoral dissertation, "Polyimide V-groove Joints for Three-Dimensional Silicon Transducers" at the Department of Signals, Sensors and Systems investigates just this.
In the course of his project, it turned out that the same hinge could also be used to build a walking robot in micro format. Large medical technical companies and Boeing in the aircraft industry have already indicated great interest in the project. Modeling helped him achieve this.