Engineers create mathematical method to design better robots, structures

This image shows a "multiple-platform" robot design that illustrates the practical use of "dual theorems" that combine the mathematics of civil and mechanical engineering, promising to enable the creation of better structures, robot manipulators and machines. Civil engineers design structures such as buildings and bridges using mathematical formulas, or theorems, that deal with the science of statics. Mechanical engineers designing mechanisms, robots and machinery use their own set of theorems dealing with kinematics, or the science of motion. Now, a mechanical engineer at Purdue University and a civil engineer at Tel Aviv University in Israel have created new theorems that combine the mathematics of both kinematics and statics. The dual theorems could enable civil engineers to design structures that better withstand the forces and "moments" associated with motions, such as those caused by earthquakes, perhaps at less expense than today's designs. The theorems also could be used to design a new class of multiple-platform robots that maintain their strength even when damaged or otherwise compromised. (Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering)