Projects
"Let's go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday".
Steve Jobs
Robotic Gripper Design for fruit harvesting
How trivial could it be for humans to pick an apple? It turns out we take for granted all the sensor, control and actuation our mind and body performs for a single apple pick. Our job, have robots helping us perform this task by combining novel sensing, control and actuation techniques.
Suction based gripper for robotic fruit harvesting
We implement three multi-bellow suction cups in our gripper, which is also endowed with in-hand sensing capabilities (ToF, camera, air pressure). In this trial we use our in-house developed apple proxy to evaluate the performance of our robotic grippers.
Publications
A. Velasquez, C. Grimm and J. Davidson. Dynamic evaluation of a suction-based gripper for fruit picking using a physical twin. Recently accepted for presentation at the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 13-17, 2024, Yokohama, Japan.
Test-rig to characterize multi-bellow suction cups
Leveraging suction cups for fruit harvesting. In these trials we wanted to learn about the influence of offset from fruit center to the suction cup performance.
Publications
A. Velasquez, J. Davidson, C. Grimm, "Suction cup characterization for a robotic apple picking gripper". ICRA 2023 Workshop on TIG-IV: Agri-Food Robotics–From Farm To Fork.
Learning apple picking with a physical twin
Publications
A. Velasquez, N. Swenson, M. Cravetz, C. Grimm and J. R. Davidson, "Predicting fruit-pick success using a grasp classifier trained on a physical proxy", 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, Japan, 2022, pp. 9225-9231, doi: 10.1109/IROS47612.2022.9981716.
Projects with the industry
Automatic glazing machine for ceramic fixtures
Project developed at SENCO Colombiana S.A.
Features
All movements (conveyor, brushing, rotation) are derived from a single motor through an innovative gear train
The machine glazes near 1k electric bulbs per hour
It protects human workers from direct contact with hazardous materials (e.g. glaze) through automated glaze sprayers
PLC programmed
Automatic casting machine for ceramic fixtures
Project developed at SENCO Colombiana S.A.
Grant: INNGENIO 2009 - Chamber of Commerce Medellin
Features
Rotating carrousel that optimizes the use of space
After an initial mold manual-filling, casting molds are cycled automatically through all stages (layer formation, flipping and drying)
Innovative mould-rotating mechanism
Single-axis discrete solar tracking
Publications
J. F. Alvarado-M, E. Betancur and A. Velásquez-Lopez, "Optimization of Single-Axis Discrete Solar Tracking," 2020 9th International Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Application (ICRERA), Glasgow, UK, 2020, pp. 271-275, doi: 10.1109/ICRERA49962.2020.9242726.
R. Sanin, A. Velasquez-Lopez: “Design of a photovoltaic charging station (PVCS) by implementing the VDI 2206”. In: MOVICI-MOYCOT 2018: Joint Conference for Urban Mobility in the Smart City, 18-20 April 2018. ISBN: 978-1-78561-963-2. DOI: 10.1049/ic.2018.0019.
Intellectual Property
Colombia SIC NC2018/0003989
Media
Solar brick. Building-integrated photovoltaics
Publications
Juan Pablo Giraldo-Pérez, Juan Sebastian Orrego-García, Cristian C. Ospina-Metaute, Alejandro Velásquez-López, Esteban Betancur; "Performance and viability of vertical BIPV in tropical zones: An experimental and simulation approach". J. Renewable Sustainable Energy 1 March 2022; 14 (2): 023701. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0065068
Giraldo-Pérez, J.P., Orrego-García, J.S., Ospina-Metaute, C.C., Velásquez-López, A. (2020). "Simplified Method to Compare the Performance of a Solar Cell Under Different Optical Conditions and Orientations". In: Figueroa-García, J.C., Garay-Rairán, F.S., Hernández-Pérez, G.J., Díaz-Gutierrez, Y. (eds) Applied Computer Sciences in Engineering. WEA 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1274. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61834-6_41
Ospina-Metaute, C.C., Betancur, E., Medina-Garzón, L.F., Marulanda-Bernal, J.I., Velásquez-López, A. (2020). "Optimization of the Orientation of Vertical Surfaces Based on Geographic Parameters for Solar Energy Harvesting". In: Figueroa-García, J.C., Garay-Rairán, F.S., Hernández-Pérez, G.J., Díaz-Gutierrez, Y. (eds) Applied Computer Sciences in Engineering. WEA 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1274. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61834-6_39
Patents
Automated beds for hospitals
Publications
A. Velasquez-Lopez, A.M. Almonacid, L.M. Jaramillo, M. Aramburo, D. Velasquez, C. Iza, L.M. Zapata: “Design of medical devices for pressure ulcer prevention”. In: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED15), Vol. 2: Design Theory and research methodology design processes, Milan, Italy, 27-30.07.2015.
J.A. Florez, A. Velásquez: “Calibration of force sensing resistors (fsr) for static and dynamic applications”, ANDESCON, 2010 IEEE, pp. 1-6. DOI: 10.1109/ANDESCON.2010.5633120
Patents
Piano-bot
Electro-pneumatic device to play piano
