Aerospace Engineering Brown Bag Lecture Series, Featuring Isaac Del Valle and Jacob Zhong

The October 16 Aerospace Engineering Brown Bag Series, featured AE undergraduates Isaac Del Valle and Jacob Zhong.
Isaac Del Valle presented
"Development of a Soft Robotics Tensegrity Rover for Planetary Exploration"
Tensegrity, a term derived from tensional integrity, refers to a specific class of structures composed of rigid bars and cables. When these bars and cables are connected to each other, they form a lattice-type structure which is capable of undergoing severe deformation due to the buckling of its bars. Utilizing the ability to deform or compress, a tensegrity lattice demonstrates advantageous characteristics as a rover for micro or low gravity environments, including being robust to failure, impact tolerant, and capable of energy efficient modes of locomotion. This presentation highlights the manufacturing processes used to build tensegrity structures, as well as the methods that have been employed to provide locomotion to a tensegrity lattice for future planetary exploration.
Jacob Zhong presented
"SysML Modeling of an Unmanned Mars Mission System"
One of the recent areas of focus in aerospace has been the use of Model-Based Systems Engineering approaches to aid in the system engineering process. This talk will give an overview of the application, benefits, and limitations of MBSE to modeling aspects of an unmanned mars mission system using SysML in MagicDraw. This includes modeling aspects such as requirements, system structure and hierarchy, and parametric analysis. Additionally, this talk will also briefly discuss the aerodynamic and trajectory analysis code developed for planetary entry as well as the current limitations of MATLAB integration within MagicDraw.
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About the Series:
The Brown Bag Lecture Series is a tradition that gives select AE undergrads and grad students a unique opportunity to share their research before an audience that includes both their peers and their academic mentors and advisors.
www.ae.gatech.edu/brown-bag-l...