Filter results

47670 results

CAMlab

Computer Aided Modelling / Manufacturing lab The CAMlab houses multiple machines for digital fabrication, which are used for the production of scale models and parts for technical prototypes. We have lasercutters, 3D printers and two CNC-milling machines. All the machines are operated by the staff and assignments are done in collaboration with the student. Lasercutting The lasercutters can cut through plates of wood, paper and some plastics, to a maximum thickness of 6mm. The cutting and engraving pattern is sent by a 2D-CAD drawing. The price for lasercutting is € 30 per hour, and you pay per minute. The time it takes to cut materials depends on the amount of cutting and engraving lines, the type of material and the thickness. Please read the drawing manual or contact the staff for preparing the laserfiles. Please mind: During presentation periods the waiting time for your order can be up to 3 weeks so make sure plan accordingly. An estimation of the current waiting time can be found next to the CAMlab entrance. All the files you need for lasercutting can be found here: Order form Lasertemplate 3D printing The 3D printers are used to make parts that are difficult to produce by hand. In the lab we have two different types of 3D printers, one uses extruded plastic (PLA) and builds up the model using this material. This produces a model that is strong and can be easily adjusted. The other printer uses a type of gypsum powder, and produces a smoother surface but is more fragile and difficult to further process. Keep in mind that for 3D printing you need a closed 3D model without holes or open edges in the geometry. Orderform 3D printing CNC-milling CNC-milling is one of the more difficult techniques, and we kindly ask students to contact us in an early phase of their project. This way we can discuss a detailed plan on how to approach the final result, taking in account materials, level of details and technical drawings. Orderform CNC-milling Orders Please hand in your orders in person between 9:00 and 11:00 at the Camlab. Only use the email if you're unable to come in person. When you hand in your order we will check the file to see if there might be any problems. And we will notify you by email when your order is ready. Bob de Boer + 31 (0) 15 2786540 B.J.deBoer@tudelft.nl BG.Zuid.080 Universal X2-660 and X-660 lasermachines ISEL Flatcom milling machine 3DSYSTEMS ProJet 360 / Dimension Elite Ultimaker 3, Ultimaker 2+, Ultimaker 2 Extended

Delft Conversations: Discussing Gender Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at TPM

Delft Conversations: Discussing Gender Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at TPM 19 March 2024 12:30 till 13:30 - Location: 31 Technology, Policy and Management, Hall A | Add to my calendar When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. Malala Yousafzai Join the DEWIS lunch session to discuss career advancement, equal opportunities and working environment within the frame of communication and action at TPM with the Dean of TPM, Aukje Hassoldt. Come and talk discuss with your fellow scientists and teachers what we can do and who to turn to. This meeting is part of a series of meetings that DEWIS is organizing at every faculty. After the faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Sciences, Technology, Policy and Management is the fifth faculty. Event information Who : All scientific staff from the faculty Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) Where : 31 Technology, Policy and Management, Hall A When : 19 March, 12:30 – 13.30 Lunch is included Registration https://edu.nl/89468 We would love to hear your experiences, suggestions, comments or wishes as an academic and/or teacher working at the faculty of TPM. What can we learn from your experience? How can we use your experience for better policymaking? We want to encourage you to speak your mind to foster conversation in benefit of equal opportunities and an inclusive and safe environment. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Laurens Valk

Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Laurens obtained his master’s double degree in Mechanical Engineering and in Systems & Control. He chose to conduct research in the area of control theory. Control theory deals with the behaviour of dynamical systems, aiming to develop methods to better understand and control these systems. Laurens generalized, improved and extended an energy-based control concept in the area of so-called passivity-based control. His innovative method enables distributed control design for a large class of applications, such as human‐machine and human‐swarm interaction. For example, using his approach, human operators can cooperate with and control the behaviour of entire swarms in a simple-to-use, intuitive, and safe way, even if the different individual dynamical systems that form the swarm (e.g. flexible robot arms, unmanned aerial vehicles, etc.) would be difficult to control directly by a human operator. Given the outstanding quality of the work and the high potential impact for applications, Laurens already got two papers published. His thesis was rewarded with the highest grade possible (10). On top of his academic excellence, Laurens is also a successful book author. His handbook on Lego Mindstorms is very popular, according to the Amazon Best Sellers Rank the #1 in Children’s Books, Computers & Technology, Hardware & Robotics. “It is impressive how much Laurens has learned about a highly challenging field in a very short time. The success in and dedication to accessible knowledge dissemination demonstrate both his didactic talent and his unpretentious nature.” Graduation committee – Prof. Heike Vallery, Dr Tamas Keviczky Thesis synopsis The research field of distributed control studies networks of interconnected systems, such as water networks or autonomous vehicle networks. In robotics, distributed control is about making multiple robots cooperate, such as to collaboratively lift and transport an object. In practice, many conventional control techniques are not directly applicable to robots with a limited number of actuators, also known as underactuated systems. This thesis presents techniques to enable stable distributed control of underactuated systems. Relying on a principle similar to the conservation of energy, we show that it is possible to stabilize individual underactuated systems, while simultaneously achieving a group objective such as driving or flying in a prescribed formation. The proposed technique is constructive, allowing a wide range of previously found solutions for individual robots to be used in a distributed control framework. The results have applications in industrial robotics as well as in safe human-robot interaction.

Anne van Lieren

Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering Anne completed her master’s degree in Strategic Product Design. For her thesis, she focussed on the concept of nudging, a psychological construct that proposes positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions as ways to influence the behaviour of individuals. In her thesis, Anne summarized and classified the majority of more than a hundred known nudging techniques. She executed seven case studies with service designers and their clients to analyse the value of different nudging techniques in a service design process. She developed the new and inspiring concept of rational overrides: micro moments of friction that can be used to disrupt mindless automatic reactions, prompt moments of reflection, and ultimately change behaviour. Anne used this concept to develop a theoretical framework and toolkit. The theoretical framework has been further developed in a research paper that Anne presented at a major international conference on design research. Furthermore, Anne managed to design a real usable service design toolkit, which was tested with real clients and proved to be a very usable solution to help designers in developing meaningful and positive behavioural change. She received an impressive 9.5 for her thesis “Anne took great care to communicate her work in a highly understandable and engaging (visual) language. An additional proof that she is a real designer.” Graduation committee - Prof. J.P.L. Schoormans, Dr G. Calabretta, Lavans Løvlie Thesis synopsis Organisations are increasingly keen to influence behaviour; from banks that urge people to save for future income to healthcare organisations that encourage healthier lifestyles. These organizations, and the designers that they hire to do the job, are struggling to change behaviour since it is complex, dynamic and very often not rational. In this graduation project, knowledge from behavioural sciences was incorporate in the service design practice. The research demonstrated that, next to the well-known nudging approach, micro moments of friction are crucial to changing behaviour. Moments of friction, also referred to as rational overrides, cause people to pause and notice what they’re doing automatically – and so enable them to make a more conscious decision. An alternative design approach and service design toolkit was created to enable designers and organizations to benefit from an enhanced ability to understand, predict and influence customer behaviour.

Jacopo Zamboni

Faculty of Aeropace Engineering Jacopo obtained his master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering. For his thesis he developed a method for the conceptual design of hybrid electric aircraft. Society demands future aircraft to be more fuel-efficient to limit their negative impact on our climate and still warrant a sustainable growth of the aviation industry. Jacopo developed a design methodology based on fundamental theories of flight, electrical engineering, and aircraft design. He demonstrated the versatility of his method by designing various future aircraft relying on different hybrid-electric architectures. By performing a thorough validation of each of the subcomponents of the methodology, he convinced the graduation committee of the validity of his results. Furthermore, Jacopo outlined three distinctive paths forward for hybrid-electric propulsion, with overall reductions in energy consumption ranging between 6% and 35% for the most conservative and most progressive technology assumptions, respectively. Jacopo received a 9 for his thesis and will present the contents of his work on the international AIAA SCITECH conference. “Jacopo is an excellent student with a deep passion for aviation and aircraft design in particular. His thesis is original, scientifically sound and very relevant with respect to developments within society” Graduation committee – Dr R. Vos, Prof. L. L. M. Veldhuis, P. C. Roling MSc, R. de Vries MSc Thesis synposis As the aviation sector keeps expanding, a growing interest in technologies that can reduce the dependency from non-renewable energy sources, both for economic and environmental reasons, has led researchers to investigate the opportunities offered by the electrification of flight. However, fully electric designs are not viable in the foreseeable future, as the performance characteristics of the electric devices are still not comparable with the achievements of fuel-burning propulsive systems. A proposed solution is to electrify only a fraction of the aircraft system while the technology maturity level is still advancing. The use of two energy sources opens the design space and allows for the experimentation with novel aircraft configurations that could lead to interesting energy consumption reductions. However, established methods for aircraft design become obsolete as the required complex configurations and control strategies cannot be modelled. Therefore, the objective of this project was the development of a conceptual design procedure that can be applied to size and analyse any hybrid electric architecture that remains simple enough to be usable at the start of the design.

Half Height Horizontal

How system safety can make Machine Learning systems safer in the public sector

Machine Learning (ML), a form of AI where patterns are discovered in large amounts of data, can be very useful. It is increasingly used, for example, in chatbot Chat GPT, facial recognition, or speech software. However, there are also concerns about the use of ML systems in the public sector. How do you prevent the system from, for example, discriminating or making large-scale mistakes with negative effects on citizens? Scientists at TU Delft, including Jeroen Delfos, investigated how lessons from system safety can contribute to making ML systems safer in the public sector. “Policymakers are busy devising measures to counter the negative effects of ML. Our research shows that they can rely much more on existing concepts and theories that have already proven their value in other sectors,” says Jeroen Delfos. Jeroen Delfos Learning from other sectors In their research, the scientists used concepts from system safety and systems theory to describe the challenges of using ML systems in the public sector. Delfos: “Concepts and tools from the system safety literature are already widely used to support safety in sectors such as aviation, for example by analysing accidents with system safety methods. However, this is not yet common practice in the field of AI and ML. By applying a system-theoretical perspective, we view safety not only as a result of how the technology works, but as the result of a complex set of technical, social, and organisational factors.” The researchers interviewed professionals from the public sector to see which factors are recognized and which are still underexposed. Bias There is room for improvement to make ML systems in the public sector safer. For example, bias in data is still often seen as a technical problem, while the origin of that bias may lie far outside the technical system. Delfos: “Consider, for instance, the registration of crime. In neighbourhoods where the police patrol more frequently, logically, more crime is recorded, which leads to these areas being overrepresented in crime statistics. An ML system trained to discover patterns in these statistics will replicate or even reinforce this bias. However, the problem lies in the method of recording, not in the ML system itself.” Reducing risks According to the researchers, policymakers and civil servants involved in the development of ML systems would do well to incorporate system safety concepts. For example, it is advisable to identify in advance what kinds of accidents one wants to prevent when designing an ML system. Another lesson from system safety, for instance in aviation, is that systems tend to become more risky over time in practice, because safety becomes subordinate to efficiency as long as no accidents occur. “It is therefore important that safety remains a recurring topic in evaluations and that safety requirements are enforced,” says Delfos. Read the research paper .

Boosting sustainable building education

Boosting sustainable building education in The Netherlands On 17 September, TU Delft launched a new initiative to implement sustainable building practices across the Dutch educational landscape by bringing together educators from Dutch vocational institutions (MBO) and TU Delft lecturers. Last week, the kick-off event at The Green Village on the TU Delft campus brought together 10 educators from MBO institutions and lecturers from TU Delft’s Sustainable Building with Timber MOOC. Educating for impact From September to December 2024, the MBO educators will participate in the MOOC as students: watching videos, completing course exercises, and submitting assignments. Additionally, they will engage in online sessions guided by TU Delft lecturers, who provide subject matter expertise, and an educational expert supporting the online learning process. From December through June 2025, the focus will shift to creating adaptable and open teaching resources specifically developed for MBO institutions. A ripple effect By equipping teachers with the tools and knowledge to teach sustainable building, the initiative supports the transition to more environmentally responsible practices within the building industry. The knowledge shared through this programme, made possible in collaboration with Leren voor Morgen and the MBO Raad (Council for schools of vocational education and training ), will shape the future workforce and contribute to a more sustainable world. While initially targeting a limited number of MBO institutions, the initiative’s impact is expected to extend far beyond. As educators integrate the materials into their curricula, the knowledge will reach future generations of students, amplifying the long-term influence of the project. Sustainable Building with Timber MOOC Course information A two-way learning process This mutually beneficial project embodies lifelong learning. MBO teachers gain access to cutting-edge teaching materials on building with timber, while TU Delft benefits from the practical insights these practitioners bring from the field. This knowledge exchange enhances vocational education and strengthens TU Delft’s research and teaching. Open resources for lasting impact A key goal of the project is to create open-access, customisable teaching materials, enabling educators to tailor content to meet the specific needs of their institutions and students. This flexible approach fosters the teaching of sustainable building techniques. Acknowledgements Heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in making this initiative possible. Together, we are laying the foundations for a more sustainable future.

Three Students Nominated for the ECHO award

Three TU Delft students have been nominated for the ECHO Award 2024. The ECHO award is awarded to students with a non-western background who are actively engaged in society. Sibel, TJ and Pravesha talk about their background their nomination. The finalists will be selected on September 27th. Sibel Gökbekir How has your background influenced your academic journey? As a woman with Turkish roots, my academic journey has been about more than just pursuing degrees in engineering and law; it’s been about consistently advocating for the diverse needs of women and multicultural groups, ensuring their voices are heard in important decisions. This is why I actively contributed to different board positions at TU Delft, working to promote inclusivity and equality. My background inspired me to explore how engineering, law, and social justice intersect, particularly in empowering marginalised communities. I chose to study energy transitions and human rights to contribute to a fairer, more inclusive World. How have you turned this into contributions to society? I’ve dedicated my academic and personal life to promoting diversity and inclusion. As a youth ambassador for Stop Street Harassment, I aimed to create safer spaces for women and minorities because I believe everyone has the right to feel free and safe in society. Through the Turkish Golden Tulip Foundation, I advocated for vulnerable communities in earthquake relief. Additionally, I founded an initiative for migrant students in Rotterdam-South and I have been committed to improving educational opportunities for secondary school students with a migration background. Next, I gave guest lectures across the Netherlands to educate the younger generation about climate change and equitable energy transitions, emphasising the importance of a fair transition for all communities. What does it mean for you to nominated to the ECHO award? I feel very honoured to have been nominated on behalf of TU Delft. My commitment to community engagement is part of who I am, and therefore the ECHO Award is more than just a recognition; It offers me an opportunity to further expand my contributions to a more inclusive society. As an ECHO Ambassador, I plan to expand my efforts in promoting equality and sustainability, while inspiring others to take action for a more equitable World. TJ Rivera How has your background influenced your academic journey? My background as a Filipino in a Dutch-speaking bachelor’s programme made my academic journey both challenging and enriching. Being gay in a male-dominated field like Architecture, where most role models were heteronormative men, added another layer of difficulty. It was intimidating to not see people like me represented. However, this experience fuelled my belief that systems can and should be challenged, changed, and updated. I aimed to bring a fresh perspective, advocating for greater diversity and inclusivity in the field. How have you turned this into contributions to society? I translated my personal challenges into tangible contributions by advocating for inclusivity within architecture. Together with like-minded individuals, I began exploring the intersection of identity, sexuality, and architecture, and collaborated with my faculty’s diversity team to raise awareness. As I became known for my work with the queer community, I saw an opportunity to create lasting change. I co-revived ARGUS, the once-inactive study association for the Master of Architecture, which now serves as a platform to discuss and address issues of diversity within the field. This initiative continues to foster a more inclusive academic environment. What does it mean for you to be nominated to the Echo award? Being nominated for the ECHO Award is a significant milestone in my journey to expand my mission beyond the confines of my faculty. This national platform provides the opportunity to raise awareness and advocate for social justice on a larger scale. I believe students are key to driving change, and my focus is on amplifying the voices of the queer community, which is often overlooked. The ECHO Award will enable me to form partnerships with organizations and universities, further promoting diversity, inclusivity, and equality. It’s a chance to create broader, tangible change, addressing the needs of those who often go unheard. Pravesha Ramsundersingh How has your background influenced your academic journey? As a woman in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), my background has been a powerful motivator to challenge gender disparities within Computer Science. Experiencing firsthand the underrepresentation of women in this field, I have been driven to not only excel academically but also become an advocate for diversity. Through leadership roles in the Faculty and Central Student Councils, I’ve focused on creating an inclusive environment that supports women and minority students, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to succeed. How have you turned this into contributions to society? I’ve translated my experiences into actionable contributions by actively advocating for DEI at TU Delft. I ensured sexual education and consent training for 3,000 freshmen students, and I led initiatives like the Social Safety Initiatives Conference alongside the Dutch National Coordinator against Racism and Discrimination. In my student governance roles, I pushed for policies that address gender discrimination and social safety concerns, creating a more supportive environment for students of all backgrounds to thrive in both academic and social spaces. What does it mean for you to nominated to the ECHO award? Being nominated for the ECHO Award is an incredible honour that highlights the importance of the work I have done to promote DEI. It inspires me to continue advocating for systemic change in the tech industry and academia. This nomination reaffirms my commitment to driving equity in STEM, ensuring that future generations have more inclusive opportunities. It also motivates me to keep pushing boundaries and empower others to take action for a more just and equal society. The ECHO Award Every year ECHO, Center for Diversity Policy, invites colleges and universities to nominate socially active students who make a difference in the field of Diversity & Inclusion for the ECHO Award 2024. The ECHO Award calls attention to the specific experiences that students with a non-Western background* carry with them and the way they manage to turn these experiences into a constructive contribution to society. Winners are selected by an independent jury and may attend a full-service Summercourse at UCLA in the United States in 2025. Read more: ECHO Award - ECHO (echo-net.nl)