berkeley-engineering

[berkeley-engineering]

Here’s a glimpse of the BB-8 build that took over the hallways of Etcheverry at UC Berkeley on Tuesday! 

Mechanical engineering professor Oliver O’Reilly and Ph.D. student Theresa Honein hosted a guest lecture by Psy DeLacy and Chris Stroud, who delved into the hardware and character design of the Star Wars robot in front of a packed audience. 

Catch up on the research that kicked off this event.

[berkeley-engineering]

As BB-8, the spherical robot of Star Wars fame, rolls across surfaces, it’s exhibiting holonomy.

“Imagine a tennis ball rolling in a closed path, on a tabletop, so that the center of the ball returns to its original location. Surprisingly, the orientation of the ball will have changed, as you’ll notice by looking at the branding markings on the ball,” said Oliver O’Reilly, professor of mechanical engineering and vice provost for undergraduate education.

Read our story about the phenomenon.

[berkeley-engineering]

Happy Lunar New Year! We hope the Year of the Dragon is one for the books. (Video by Adam Lau / Berkeley Engineering)

Pictured: An animation of a bear in a blue sweater gently waving a dragon puppet up and down. Three red paper lanterns glow above.

[berkeley-engineering]

Berkeley researchers at Messersmith Lab have demonstrated that treatment with DPCA can protect against and repair colon damage — a potential gamechanger for patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Read our story.

[berkeley-engineering]

Did you know that UC Berkeley has a self-guided Black History tour?

On stop 6, you can find the memorial for Joseph Thomas Gier, the electrical engineering professor who was the first tenured Black professor in the UC system.

Plan your campus tour.

[berkeley-engineering]

Augmental, the assistive technologies company cofounded by Berkeley alums Corten Singer and Tomás Vega, just debuted a unique tongue-controlled touchpad!

Read our story on MouthPad^.

[berkeley-engineering]

"At UC Berkeley, we’ve created a bond that has helped us learn from each other and grow together." —Brenda Aguilar, Brianna Barrett and Deanna Blanco (B.S.’25 CE)

Read the full Voices of Berkeley Engineering profile.

[berkeley-engineering]

AI Racing Tech just unveiled the AV-24, which is "the most advanced autonomous race car in the world." The team is led by UC Berkeley in partnership with UC San Diego, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Hawaii.

[berkeley-engineering]

Berkeley researchers have been addressing the emerging era of self-driving vehicles on multiple fronts.

Back in 2018, Alexandre Bayen, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and of civil and environmental engineering, introduced Flow, a tool using machine learning to manage traffic.

Learn more.

[berkeley-engineering]

We’re looking back on Berkeley Engineering’s biggest stories in 2023! In a year full of incredible achievements and discoveries, we wanted to capture the spirit of each milestone. So we put a fun spin on the year-in-review format with a list that puts the “super” in superlative. 

See the full list here.

Pictured: A stop-motion video featuring cutouts of multi-colored graphics where the featured image for each superlative becomes un-crumpled.

[berkeley-engineering]

Berkeley students Ilija Radosavovic (Ph.D’25 EECS) and Bike Zhang (MEng’19; Ph.D’26 ME) used billions of simulations and reinforcement learning to teach a robot to walk and balance. (Courtesy Berkeley Humanoid Team)

Read SFGate’s story.

[berkeley-engineering]

Three years in the making, CalSol’s 10th generation solar-powered car is set to hit race tracks starting in July 2024! (Photos by Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering)

[berkeley-engineering]

The grading system known as “mastery learning” seeks to facilitate a process that gives students more room to learn from their mistakes. The idea is that students can achieve thorough proficiency in a subject if they are given enough time.

Armando Fox and Dan Garcia, professors of electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS), are behind UC Berkeley’s pilot run in the non-majors CS 10 class, an endeavor they’ve dubbed “A’s for All (as Time and Interest Allow).”

In a paper, the Berkeley team found that “one of the best predictors of student performance in our rigorous introductory CS courses is prior CS exposure.” The implementation in an introductory course has the potential to improve diversity in the program. 

Read our full story.

[berkeley-engineering]

TBT to when UC Berkeley researchers in professor Ken Goldberg's AUTOLab explored using robots to solve the "rushing sommelier" problem.

[berkeley-engineering]

Chunlei Liu, EECS professor, co-authored a paper that brings more precision to functional MRI brain imaging.

[berkeley-engineering]

Here’s a look at the VEX Robotics K-12 competition — organized by Robolabs co-founder Arya Sasikumar (B.S.’26 ME; Business) — at the One World VEX Robotics Showcase Event this month.

Over 1,100 attendees flew in from five countries to gather around the arena in UC Berkeley’s Pauley Ballroom!

[berkeley-engineering]

“As part of the Management Entrepreneurship Technology program, and as the first-ever MET student from China, I deeply appreciate the rich and varied learning experiences Berkeley offers to international students, both inside and beyond the classroom.

I first delved into research through the URAP program, optimizing 3D printing with machine learning under the mentorship of Professor Sara McMains. As I focused on my interest in robotic design, I embarked on research on soft robotics at the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab. The prospect of working alongside top-notch researchers to challenge the unknown has been nothing short of exhilarating.

Gaining industry experience can be a little intimidating as a non-U.S. citizen. However, supported by the CPT program, I interned as a mechanical engineer at Intuitive Surgical, one of the top robotics companies whose headquarters is only 30 minutes from Berkeley. Bringing my classroom knowledge to the forefront, and contributing to the development of life-saving surgical robots, reaffirmed the meaningfulness of my education. My passion for imparting engineering design knowledge was recognized too; I've been privileged enough to serve as a GSI for the E128 course for over two semesters.

As the co-president of the Association of Chinese Entrepreneurs at Berkeley, the amount of startups, resources and funding around campus is unparalleled. My journey includes leading the product development team for a robotics startup, co-founding an AIGC fashion startup, and, presently, building a distributed on-demand manufacturing platform.

Far from feeling like an outsider due to my native language and being a first-gen college student, at Berkeley, I've felt embraced, continuously forging connections with future leaders from around the world similarly driven to make the world a brighter place.”

—Chen Dai (B.S.’24 ME; Business)

More community profiles: bit.ly/3ifpSXy