The Centre-to-Centre collaboration aligns with the EPSRC objective to put best-with-best. We have brought UK tribology together with world leading nanomanufacturing and robotics centres in Norway, Germany and the US.
Aim and Objectives of the project
The main aim of our collaboration will be to embed tribology as an enabling discipline in two very important engineering areas and demonstrate that together these disciplines can have immense impact.
The two major themes for the project are:
- Nanomanufacturing through tribology; using tribochemistry and the stimulation of reactions at the tribocontact to build 3D structures for flexible electronics, nanodevices, MEMs and NEMs
- Tribology in robotics; Robotic devices rely on efficient and reliable grasping in arduous environments and central to this is the understanding, sensing and control of grasper/device tribology across the length scales
The specific scientific and technical objectives (STO) can be summarised as:
- STO1 – to develop a framework for the production and detailed characterisation of reliable 3D structures at the micro and nanoscale based on the exploitation of triboreactivity
- STO2 – to manipulate materials in the triboreactive environment to form 4D structures
- STO3 – to develop a computational and experimental framework to advance the design of efficient and safe grasping systems
- STO4 – to integrate tribology into the design of locomotion systems for micro-scale robotic systems
The project is transformative as it brings tribology, as a positive and enabling discipline, into two emerging areas of nanomanufacturing and robotics. Tribology is normally associated with the wear and degradation and whilst important to the economy normally has negative connotations. This proposal embraces the positive aspects of tribological science
Our International Partners
- California Institute of Technology, USA
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
- Max Planck, Germany