Smart scooter
05/01/15 — Modified Razor scooters are used in a cyber-physical system design course to how electric vehicles interface with the energy grid.
Design
ToastBoard
05/01/15 — ToastBoard is designed to make circuit design and testing easier. It's a better breadboard.
Transcense
05/01/15 — This smartphone app makes conference calls more accessible to deaf users by transcribing conversations in real time.
Dash Robotics
05/01/15 — These biomimetic, origami-like kits are designed to get kids (of all ages) hooked on building robots.
NASA Tensegrity robots
05/01/15 — These squishy robots are inspiring new ways of thinking about the form and function of automated systems.
Design case studies
05/01/15 — Tensegrity robots, pollution monitors and new flight technology are a few of the design innovations originating at the college and now moving from prototype into production. View slideshow.
Design Fest schedule announced
04/20/15 Jacobs Institute — Design Fest, an open house where UC Berkeley students show and tell their current design projects, kicks off with a seminar by Don Norman, pioneer of human-centered design.
Jacobs Hall takes shape
02/25/15 — The mood was festive when the college community gathered to celebrate the placement of the final steel beam atop the new Jacobs Hall.
Devices: Sun Fridge
02/03/15 — Alumnus Steve Lanzisera (Ph.D'09 EECS) is part of a Berkeley Lab effort to design a portable solar-powered refrigerator to safely deliver vaccines to the developing world.
Breaking the sound barrier in deaf communication
01/21/15 — Thibault Duchemin (M.Eng'14 IEOR), who grew up as the only hearing person in his family, has developed a novel communications tool called Transcense.
Teaching design innovation
12/08/14 — The Jacobs Institute is supporting five design courses in spring 2015, ranging from a course on sketching for designers, to an interactive seating design competition, to a new lower-division engineering course in which students will gain hands-on and simulated experience with a wide range of manufacturing processes.
Design Note: Björn Hartmann on design, teamwork and expertise
12/08/14 berkeleyByte — In an interview with the student-run berkeleyByte design blog, Björn Hartmann of EECS and the Jacobs Institute discusses what led him to human-computer interaction, where he thinks design education is heading, and the importance of interdisciplinarity.
Cookstove case study
11/07/14 — Students in the new development engineering class make lunch on cookstoves.
White House announces executive actions to boost U.S. manufacturing
10/28/14 — Dean Shankar Sastry represented Berkeley at a White House meeting Monday announcing steps to strengthen U.S. advanced manufacturing, spur innovation and continue to make the nation a magnet for new jobs and investment.
Devices: Ninja walker
10/07/14 — One team in Professor Amy Herr's senior capstone bioengineering course came up with an elegant solution to improve on walkers for the elderly and infirm that don't fit into tight spaces: the Ninja Walker.
Capstone team takes 2nd in ASME Undergraduate Design Competition
08/14/14 — A team of students in the Fall 2013 Bioengineering Senior Capstone Design course have won Second Place in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Undergraduate Design Competition this summer.
Scholars on scooters
08/14/14 — Students zip around campus on electric scooters while learning about energy, transportation and vehicle-to-grid systems in a new civil engineering class.
Design innovation at Berkeley Engineering
08/11/14 — This slide show tells the story of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation's first year.
Engineering for all
06/18/14 National Science Foundation — In an article on how the "maker movement" shines a spotlight on DIY design and manufacturing, mechanical engineering professor Paul Wright talks about how more affordable tools, like 3-D printers and design software, are helping young inventors move rapidly from prototype to product.
On the road
06/17/14 — While working in their garage at the Richmond Field Station, the machine shop in Cory Hall, or the Hackerspace, CalSol - the UC Berkeley Solar Vehicle Team - has completely redesigned their competition vehicle. They will have the opportunity to test their new design in an upcoming endurance race that will take them across eight states, from Texas to Minnesota.