Conference Agenda

Delicate object handling often requires custom-designed end effectors to perform stable and secure closure. In fruit handling, sorting, and, particularly, harvesting, the gripper may need to grasp the object gently, generate a controlled post-grasp rotation to help detach the fruit from the plant, and release it at a desired orientation while keeping the distal mechanism compact. This paper presents GraRo, a single-actuator two-finger gripper that combines tendon-driven compliant fingers with a passive friction-triggered mode-switching module. The same motor input first closes the fingers around the object and is then mechanically redirected to rotate the finger pair after contact loading reaches the switching condition. A CAD/CAE-based validation is conducted to evaluate the grasping range, object rotation, pull-out resistance, and blocked-object twisting behavior for representative spherical objects. The results show that the proposed architecture can complete a continuous grasp-and-rotate sequence over a fruit-sized diameter range and can maintain useful pull-out resistance during post-grasp twisting. These findings support GraRo as a compact mechanically sequenced solution for delicate object manipulation tasks requiring both compliant grasping and controlled reorientation.

The integration of digital design tools and additive manufacturing tech-nologies is transforming the development of fashion accessories. This pa-per investigates the role of 3D printing as a design tool for innovative bag manufacturing, focusing on its ability to integrate form, structure, and ma-terial within a single production process. The study combines a literature review on additive manufacturing in the fashion sector with an experi-mental design. Particular attention is given to flexible structures and 3D-printed textiles, addressing the limitations of material rigidity in fashion-related applications. The research culminates in the development of an ex-perimental bag collection that demonstrates how additive manufacturing enables new design paradigms based on customization, reduced waste, and improved production efficiency. The results highlight the potential of 3D printing as both a creative and industrial tool in contemporary accessory design.

This paper presents a Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)-based lightweight redesign of a rigid-link pusher mechanism used in an automatic packaging machine. The reference system is an aluminum Stephenson six-bar linkage operating at a nominal crank speed of 600 rpm and mainly subjected to inertial loads. The proposed workflow combines multibody simulation, static finite-element verification, material substitution, topology optimization, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) reconstruction while preserving the original kinematic architecture. The mechanism is first reconstructed in PTC Creo and simulated to extract the worst-case joint loads. The original aluminum components are first verified in Creo and then compared with geometrically equivalent Onyx components, which are checked in both Creo and ANSYS. Based on this verification, topology optimization is applied to the connecting rod, slider, and rockers, while the crank is reassigned to Onyx but kept geometrically unchanged due to its limited stress margin. The optimized geometries are manually reconstructed and reassembled in the complete mechanism. The final Onyx-based design achieves an overall moving-mass reduction of about 76%, with component-level reductions up to 86.8%. As a result of the reduced inertial loads, the simulated peak motor torque decreases from approximately 2.6 Nm to 1.5 Nm, with limited output-position deviation. The results indicate that material substitution combined with topology optimization can provide a practical redesign route for reducing mass and actuation requirements in existing cyclic machinery mechanisms without modifying their rigid-link layout.

The design of crawler undercarriages equipped with front blade systems is a critical task in the development of earthmoving machines, since it commonly requires repeated iterations between Computer Aided Design (CAD) models and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) validation environments. This pro-cess increases design time and computational cost, especially when consoli-dated sizing rules are not available. To address this limitation, the proposed work defines a preliminary design approach and a supporting engineering tool that translates empirical geometric evidence, load case modeling and structural verification criteria into practical rules for the preliminary sizing of standard front blade assemblies. The approach combines a benchmark analy-sis of existing machines, the definition of characteristic geometric ratios, and an analytical model for the evaluation of the forces exchanged within the mechanism under relevant operating load cases. The calculated loads are then used to support the preliminary verification of the main structural and functional components, including hydraulic actuators, pins, connections, blade rods and crossbars. The force prediction model and the stress estima-tion procedure are validated on a representative case study within commer-cial CAE environments. The implemented calculation tool is intended to support designers during early-stage development, reducing the need for re-peated CAE iterations.

This paper presents a co-design process to support the development of a digital artefact aimed at supporting the inclusive learning of multiplication in primary school. Starting from the analysis of difficulties that many children, especially those with special educational needs, encounter in moving beyond rote memo-rization of multiplication tables, and from the benchmark of digital applica-tions currently available to support multiplication learning, the study reframes a mathematical learning issue as a product design problem. The proposed de-sign process included several stages: the identification of user needs, the defi-nition of product requirements, the iterative development through co-design ac-tivities, involving target users, and prototyping of alternative interface solu-tions using Scratch. The final prototype was preliminarily assessed involving a total of 5 third-grade primary school learners, with special educational needs. Results suggest that the application was perceived as intuitive, engaging and supportive of autonomous interaction, while also highlighting the need for teacher mediation in the construction of mathematical meaning.

This work presents a numerical investigation of a liquid-cooled traction-inverter module, with particular attention to the effect of local water-jacket modifications on the thermo-hydraulic behaviour of the cooling structure. A steady-state CFD model of the complete geometry was first developed to evaluate the thermal response of the module and the corresponding hydraulic performance under the considered operating conditions. For the reference layout, the predicted junction temperatures showed a non-uniform distribution among the three legs. An alternative water-jacket configuration was then assessed in order to verify whether the hydraulic losses could be reduced without significant thermal degradation. The modified layout reduced the pressure drop by about 14%, while the increase in junction temperature remained limited to about 0.2-0.8% depending on the considered leg. In addition, CFD-derived convective coefficients were transferred to a FEM framework in order to evaluate the transient thermal response of the assembly in terms of junction-to-fluid thermal impedance. The FEM results showed a slight thermal asymmetry among the three legs and a position-dependent mutual-heating behaviour consistent with the non-uniform cooling conditions predicted by CFD. Overall, the results suggest that suitable local water-jacket modifications may provide a favourable compromise between hydraulic efficiency and thermal performance, while also enabling an integrated CFD-FEM workflow for the thermal assessment of power-electronics packages.