Blog from the Faculty of Engineering
Our Technical Services team underpins all of the work that goes on in Engineering. They are the experts who run the labs, make the components and work the cutting edge technology we use every day.
Every year we recruit and train new technical apprentices to support the team. Mictroy talks about his experience:
Find out more about Technical Apprenticeships at Bristol: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/staffdevelopment/professional-services/technical-staff/technical-apprenticeships/
First year Mechanical Engineering students on the ‘Design & Manufacture 1’ unit undertake a Design and Make Project known as DMP. Students have 8 weeks, working in teams to conceive, design and build a cup vending machine. They spend three weeks brainstorming, conceiving, evaluating and selecting system and sub-system solutions to satisfy a detailed Product Design Specification. There’s four weeks on the embodiment, detail design and build planning, and one week on the manufacture and assembly of the prototype machine itself. There is a high degree of electrical system integration with electrical actuators and sensors which must be used within a programmable microcontroller environment. Students work closely in their teams, managing the project themselves, with technical assistance from staff and demonstration of actuators and sensors from technicians. Students present their final design portfolios and vending machine prototypes to external judges who award prizes for the winning group and runner-up. The week of the final build is always an intense culmination of weeks of hard work – this video give you a flavour of it!
Bristol Vision Institute, University of Bristol Botanic Garden, and Bristol Eye Hospital have been working closely with the Artist Luke Jerram on a new set of experimental sculptures that explore vision and how we see. The installation is called the Impossible Garden and is open to the public at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden until November.
Every year third year MEng Computer Science students work together in teams of six to create a state-of-the-art computer game. The groups spend up to 2400 hours between them building games that will thrill, delight or immerse the player and provide a spectacle for those watching them play. ‘Games Day’ is an annual tradition for the games to be played, showcased and marked. We spoke to senior Lecturer Dr Tilo Burghardt and students on the course to find out more.
In their games, students integrate technologies from across various computing subjects whilst flexing their creative muscles building new worlds and scenarios to explore. The CS students often work with MA Composition of Music for Film and Television students to produce the soundtracks for their games. They also get advice from industrial mentors in the games, software or media industry.
The department of Computer Science (which sits in the School of Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Engineering Maths) has been running a computer games module since 1996.
This summer the SPHERE (Sensor Platform for HEalthcare in a Residential Environment) project is setting up home at We The Curious, Bristol’s hands-on Science museum.
The ‘hi-tech house’ is a kitchen set up that showcases SPHERE’s health sensor technology in a way that kids and grown ups can try it out for themselves. The exhibit is more than just a simple tech showcase, visitors will learn and share their own thoughts about the research cycle, ethics and the way that research is designed to achieve its end goal of making people healthier in their homes.
We can’t always show people all of our cutting edge labs and facilities when they come to visit the Faculty of Engineering.
It’s impractical to take hundreds of people up on the roof to see our satellite antenna and our Robotics Lab is on another campus up in Filton. With this in mind we’ve made some 360° videos so that you can see the spaces from the comfort of your own computer.
Are you calm under pressure? How about in an emergency? Are you sure?
Dr Nikolai Bode from Engineering Maths has developed a game simulation which puts your assumptions to the test. Using mathematical and computational models to predict how crowds of people might move through a building based on assumptions about ordinary human behaviour.
Dr Bode is now carrying out further research and is considering adapting the game for use by event planners, architects and safety stewards, in the hope that the interactive experience it offers could be useful for designing safe evacuation procedures. He is also exploring whether the game could be incorporated into online safety training courses.
This episode of BBC Click is a great primer for anyone who needs to explain 5G, Smart Cities and the future of wireless to a lay audience. The piece contextualise the benefits of 5G as well as explaining of the technology. It talks about driverless cars, smart cities and the internet of things whilst helping to move the conversation beyond the misconception that 5G is ‘one up from 4G’.
The episode also features Professor Dimitra Simeonidou and the ‘Layered Realities’, the first public demonstration of 5G technology led by our very own Smart Internet Lab.
Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an international competition that celebrates exciting research by PhD students around the world. Developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), the competition cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. Presenting in a 3MT competition increases your capacity to effectively explain your research in three minutes, using lay language. Competitors are allowed one PowerPoint slide, but no other resources or props.
This year Andres Rivero from the School of Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering made it to the Bristol final with his presentation, ‘Flexible airplanes: achieving higher fuel efficiency by adapting wing shapes during flight’.