Team

Dr Amar Behera

Associate Professor, Department of Design, IIT Kanpur. The SMILE lab is led by Dr Amar Behera, who has extensive international working experience in the US, Belgium, India and UK. His work spans geometric algorithms, shape grammars, CAD/CAM, feature-based design optimization and flexible manufacturing processes. His research at the University of Nottingham and KU Leuven, Belgium has helped shift the dimensional accuracy limits for parts made by single point incremental forming (SPIF) leading to successful industrial applications for thin sheet plastic molds, bio-medical cranial implants, etc. that were adopted by a consortium of companies in Benelux that included Arcelor Mittal, Samsonite, Bekro and ANL Plastics. Further work on embedding design structures in engineering information as part of an EPSRC 'Design the Future' project at the University of Leeds has led to new means for effective sharing of design definitions across product lifecycles by utilizing concepts from mathematical group theory such as lattice structures and enabling functional integration in product lifecycle management (PLM) tools using voice integration (speech recognition and synthesis). This work has fostered collaboration with Rolls Royce, with the scope for applications to large firms that need to manage incommensurable design data.

Other past work includes online dynamic control of cooling in continuous steel casting at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which was done in collaboration with Nucor Steel and the development of a man-machine interface for precision assembly with Microlution, Inc., Chicago. Dr. Behera has also spent time in the industry with Mphasis an HP company managing projects for General Motors and A. P. Moller Maersk and conducting mechatronics research for General Electric on the levitation of rotors using active magnetic bearings.