The use of integrated Computer Aided Design/Engineering (CAD/CAE) software capable of analyzing mechanical devices in a single parametric environment is becoming an industrial standard. Potential advantages over traditional enduring multi-software design routines can be outlined into time/cost reduction and easier modeling procedures. To meet industrial requirements, the engineering education is constantly revising the courses programs to include the training of modern advanced virtual prototyping technologies. Within this scenario, the present work describes the CAD/CAE project-based learning (PjBL) activity developed at the University of Genova as a part of course named Design of Automatic Machines, taught at the second level degree in mechanical engineering. The PjBL activity provides a detailed overview of an integrated design environment (i.e. PTC Creo). The students, divided into small work groups, interactively gain experience with the tool via the solution of an industrial design problem, provided by an engineer from industry. The considered case study consists of an automatic pushing device implemented in a commercial machine. Starting from a sub-optimal solution, the students, supervised by the lecturers, solve a series of sequential design steps involving both motion and structural analysis. The paper describes each design phase and summarizes the numerical outputs. At last, the results of the PjBL activity are presented and commented by considering the opinions of all the parties involved.

In recent decades, many researchers have focused on the design and development of exoskeletons. Several strategies have been proposed to develop increasingly more efficient and biomimetic mechanisms. However, existing exoskeletons tend to be expensive and only available for a few people. This paper introduces a new gravity-balanced upper-limb exoskeleton suited for rehabilitation applications and designed with the main objective of reducing the cost of the components and materials. Regarding mechanics, the proposed design significantly reduces the motor torque requirements, because a high cost is usually associated with high-torque actuation. Regarding the electronics, we aim to exploit the microprocessor peripherals to obtain parallel and real-time execution of communication and control tasks without relying on expensive RTOSs. Regarding sensing, we avoid the use of expensive force sensors. Advanced control and rehabilitation features are implemented, and an intuitive user interface is developed. To experimentally validate the functionality of the proposed exoskeleton, a rehabilitation exercise in the form of a pick-and-place task is considered. Experimentally, peak torques are reduced by 89% for the shoulder and by 84% for the elbow.

This paper proposes a procedure for the rapid prototyping and on-demand manufacturing of thin film flexible electro-adhesive devices (EADs) made with a commercial polyimide dielectric layer, inkjet printed interdigitated silver electrodes and blade coated silicone elastomer encapsulation backing. As a proof demonstration, flexible thin-film EADs featuring 9.6 cm2 active area, 315 μm thickness and 0.7 g weight have been manufactured and tested over different adhering substrates showing peak adhesive shear stresses of up to 56.67 kPa, fast response time (11 ms for initial activation and 0.3 s for full electrification) and little energy requirements (from 1.3 mJ for initial activation to 20 mJ for full electrification and with a subsequent power consumption of about 1 mW for long-term grasp holding). Practical application of the manufactured EADs within a gripper for the grasping and handling of real objects that include a glass bottle, a hollow carbon fiber tube, a cardboard box, a box with thin polypropylene envelope and a polypropylene bottle is also demonstrated.