This study is concerned with the design and development of a novel wing for UAVs that morphs seamlessly without the use of complex hydraulics, servo motors and controllers. The selected novel design is characterized by a high degree of flight adaptability and improved performance with a limited added weight. These characteristics were attained through the use of shape memory actuators in an antagonistic fashion. Unlike compliant actuators, the antagonistic setup requires the thermal energy to deform the wing but not to maintain its deformed shape. Structural analysis based upon safety factors specified by FAR23 standards and aerodynamic analysis using FLUENT were conducted on the novel design to validate its suitability as a viable wing for UAVs. In addition, thermal conditioning of the shape memory actuators was conducted using a specially designed programmable controller. This thesis does not concern itself with the design of a skin that accommodates the shape changes.

This study is concerned with the design and development of a novel wing for UAVs that morphs seamlessly without the use of complex hydraulics, servo motors and controllers. The selected novel design is characterized by a high degree of flight adaptability and improved performance with a limited added weight. These characteristics were attained through the use of shape memory actuators in an antagonistic fashion. Unlike compliant actuators, the antagonistic setup requires the thermal energy to deform the wing but not to maintain its deformed shape. Structural analysis based upon safety factors specified by FAR23 standards and aerodynamic analysis using FLUENT were conducted on the novel design to validate its suitability as a viable wing for UAVs. In addition, thermal conditioning of the shape memory actuators was conducted using a specially designed programmable controller. This thesis does not concern itself with the design of a skin that accommodates the shape changes.

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This thesis investigates whether the shape of eating utensils can be optimized using computational methods. This is done by creating a system to do so for a specific case, spoons, and see if any insurmountable problems are encountered. As this system is meant to optimize spoons rather than eating utensils in general, there are a few simplifications that can be done when modelling the eating process. The spoons are represented by a set of parameters that are further divided into groups. The first group representing the bowl, followed by a variable number of handle segments. The parameter sets are evaluated by calculating the volume between the lowest point on the rim and the bottom of the bowl, giving both the volume remaining at the end as well as the volume spilt over the course of the motion. This, together with the final direction and tilt of the bowl as well as a measure of spoon complexity, is processed into a score value. The chosen optimization method is gradient descent, with a variable step length. The results show that the optimization process does work, and the resulting spoons look plausible. The conclusion is that the approach is viable, but there are a number of changes and improvements needed to make things work for practical purposes. / Det här examensarbetet undersöker om formen på bestick kan anpassas kan anpassas för speciella behov med hjälp av optimeringslära. Målet är att utveckla ett system som optimerar formen på ett specialfall, skedar, till specifika ätrörelser för att se om det är möjligt. Specialfallet skedar används eftersom det förenklar de beräkningar som behöver göras vid modelleringen av ätandet. Skedarna representeras av en parametriserad modell som delar upp skeden i segment bestående av parametergrupper. Det första segmentet representerar skedskålen, de följande skedskaftet. Skaftets längd kan ändras genom att variera antalet skaft-segment. Skedarna utvärderas genom att beräkna volymen mellan skedskålskanten och den lägsta punkten på skedskålen under hela ätrörelsen. Detta ger både hur mycket av innehållet som når munnen (lägsta volymen som hittats) samt hur mycket som spillts (skillnaden mellan den initiala och den lägsta volymen). Detta, tillsammans med hur skeden är positionerad relativt munnen i slutet av rörelsen samt hur komplext skedskaftet är, agerar som grund till hur skeden poängsätts. Själva optimeringen sker genom 'gradient descent' med en variabel steglängd. Det system som implementerats visar på att det är möjligt att använda optimeringslära för detta syfte, och de skedar som skapas ser rent intuitivt ut att fungera som poängsättningen lovar. Slutsatsen blir att metoden i sig fungerar, men att flera förbättringar krävs innan den kan användas i praktiken. / <p>The CSC-institution was re-organized into EECS towards the end of the project.</p>