Project Description:

The use of fiber-reinforced composites in various industries has significantly increased. In composites manufacturing, tooling plays a critical role in providing accurate shapes and maintaining dimensional precision. The rapid iteration of composite part designs poses challenges for traditional tooling fabrication methods, which often require months to years to complete. As a result, more advanced tooling fabrication technologies are essential.

In this study, additively manufactured composite tooling technology will be investigated. To enable large-scale tooling, an arc welding robot will be implemented as an additive manufacturing system. The microstructure of the printed beads, thermal residual stresses, and shape deformations in the printed parts will be analyzed. The printed metal tool will undergo post-machining using a CNC milling machine to achieve dimensional accuracy and will subsequently be used as a tool in the fiber-reinforced composite part manufacturing process.

The project will be held in the Composite Manufacturing and Simulation Center (CMSC), an interdisciplinary group within the Purdue School of Engineering and Purdue Polytechnic Institute that leads in advanced composite science and technology. There is a well-developed training program for the knowledge and skills they need to learn. Additionally, the students will be closely supervised by the staff and graduate students to ensure effective teaching.

Requirements:

Experience with CAD, 3D printing, CAM, and CNC machining is preferred.

Project Description:

The scope of this project is to develop an intelligent virtual agent capable of interacting with humans in a virtual environment. The agent will be designed to solve tasks and communicate effectively with users while dynamically refining its action plan based on the user's current state and the surrounding environment. The student is expected to design and implement custom algorithms to enable intelligent behavior in the virtual agent while also integrating existing APIs (e.g., ChatGPT, Azure) to support various functionalities required for the agent's interactions and task execution.

Requirements:

The student should have a strong technical background, including proficiency in programming languages such as C# and Python, and experience with game engines or VR platforms like Unity. Familiarity with API integration (e.g., ChatGPT, Azure, or similar services) is highly desirable, as well as a foundational understanding of AI concepts. The candidate should be comfortable with debugging, problem-solving, and using collaborative software development tools like Git. Strong analytical skills and an interest in virtual environments and AI are essential, along with a willingness to learn and adapt to new technologies.

Project Description:

We are investigating the future of construction by integrating internet of things (IoT), building information modeling (BIM), robotics, and cyber-physical systems (CPS) into our cutting-edge D. Dorsey Moss Construction Lab (take a peek at the lab facility here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ5O2bo8Z74). Several federal and state sponsored research projects are underway at the Automation and Intelligent Construction (AutoIC) Lab, such as the following:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2231160&HistoricalAwards=false 
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1827733&HistoricalAwards=false 
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222838&HistoricalAwards=false 
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418688&HistoricalAwards=false 
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348213&HistoricalAwards=false
https://rip.trb.org/view/1870407
https://rip.trb.org/View/2410439

We are glad to host students who have a passion in construction automation and sustainable built environment, and would like to work on research topics related to any of the above mentioned areas.

Requirements:

- Hands-on experience working with industry robots (e.g., Kuka, ABB, Fanuc, Yaskawa, etc.) or any sensor
- Java, Python or C++ programming background
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Strong self-motivation
- Excellent collaborative and interpersonal skills

Optional:
- Hardware prototyping or manufacturing experience
- Electronics experience

Project Description:

This project seeks to design and fabricate a silicon microchip for the transmission and reception of data encoded using light produced by the luminescence radiation of solar cells and LEDs.

Requirements:

Strong background in electronic circuits, experience with hardware description languages (VHDL or Verilog), experience prototyping and troubleshooting printed circuit boards, good communication skills.