Skip to main content
University Communications
News

Mechanical Engineering

data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU origami-inspired chair design featured on Mark Rober’s Top 10 list

Julie Walker
By Julie Walker
November 07, 2024
A futuristic BYU-designed, origami-inspired Flex Chair, cut out of a single piece of flat material and folded into shape, has made YouTuber Mark Rober’s Top 10 list. In a Nov. 2 video post, Rober spotlights the chair at #7 on his list of Crunch Lab builds in the past year, and credits BYU compliant mechanisms researchers for the innovative design.
2 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

It's not rocket science... it's rocket engineering: BYU's Rocketry Team wins big again

Todd Hollingshead
By Todd Hollingshead
July 11, 2024
The BYU Rocketry Team and their Utah-inspired rocket named “Alta” got on the podium three times, earning two first prizes and a second-place finish at the 2024 Spaceport America Cup.
2 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Go behind the scenes with Mark Rober at BYU and the world's tiniest Nerf blaster

October 02, 2023
In Mark Rober’s latest sure-to-be-viral video, he pursues an epic journey to make the world’s tiniest Nerf blaster. That journey leads the engineer and YouTuber extraordinaire straight to his alma mater, Brigham Young University.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Serious fireworks: BYU students celebrating 4th of July with explosive win at collegiate rocket competition

By Shelby Clark
July 03, 2023
For the BYU Rocketry Team, celebrating the Fourth of July this year with fireworks just isn’t going to cut it. After all, fireworks that might shoot a few hundred feet in the air pale in comparison to the 10,000 feet their BYU rocket reached while winning the 2023 Spaceport America Cup.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU team using wearable nanocomposite sensor and AI to create prescription-like system for chronic back pain

By Emily Lambert
May 24, 2023
To find effective therapies for chronic low back pain, and to help curb opioid addiction, the NIH created the Back Pain Consortium Research Program. BYU is one of 10 major universities (along with Harvard, Ohio State and the University of Utah) tapped to help with this effort, and new work from researchers here has led to a system to prescribe patient-specific back pain remedies like doctors would prescribe medication.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU students engineer most fuel-efficient vehicle on the continent, drive away with national title

By Shelby Clark
May 11, 2023
Engineering students at BYU have built a vehicle that can travel from Provo to Niagara Falls on one gallon of gas. To be exact, it can travel 1,915.83 miles per gallon, an astounding distance that is not only the best in the United States, but the best across the Americas.
2 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Back to the Future: BYU profs find 50s-era solution to modern engineering mystery

Todd Hollingshead
By Todd Hollingshead
August 30, 2022
A group of BYU researchers have traveled back in time to solve a seemingly irreconcilable scientific mystery that has confused engineers and chemists for nearly two decades. And while they didn’t actually hit 88 miles an hour in a DeLorean like Michael J. Fox, the team did end up in the same time frame as Marty McFly, where they found the answer to a metals processing conundrum that has popped up in modern academic research.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU students build Mars rover, travel to Mars-like terrain, compete for Earth's top prize

By Emily Lambert
June 06, 2022
BYU engineering students and undergrads from universities representing 10 countries traveled to the deserts near Hanksville, Utah, last weekend for the annual University Rover Challenge. There they tested their student-built rovers to the limits and the BYU team competed admirably with some of the finest student engineering minds in the world.


1 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU engineers travel to the Arctic, develop innovative radar method to detect polar bears

By Christie Allen
May 25, 2022
BYU engineering students are testing radar to track polar bears aboveground. If successful, the team’s work would mark a significant step forward in scientists’ ability to track mother polar bears during winter, when they den and give birth to their cubs beneath dense snowpack. Locating and protecting bear dens is important for conservation efforts.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Student-created, origami-based windshield wiper solves laparoscopic surgery conundrum

June 17, 2021
Engineering graduate student Jacob Sheffield has created a tiny origami-based device that serves as a miniature windshield wiper for laparoscope camera lenses.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Character

BYU engineering student creates simple device to help young violinist with prosthetic arm

Todd Hollingshead
By Todd Hollingshead
June 10, 2021
Adia Cardona is a 10-year-old violinist who has exceptional skill for her age and determination to match it. The young Provo girl also has just one hand.
2 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU engineering, theatre arts students team up to create animatronic cougar

By Christie Allen
May 19, 2021
Thanks to the combined efforts of two BYU engineering capstone teams and a group of theatre and media arts students, the beloved mascot Cosmo is getting an animatronic counterpart in the theatre department.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

With innovative nanofiber membranes, cloth masks’ efficacy goes up to 99%

By Christie Allen
October 21, 2020
The cloth masks many are sporting these days offer some protection against COVID-19. However, they typically provide much less than the professional N95 masks used by healthcare workers. That may soon change. Recently, students from BYU’s College of Engineering teamed up with Nanos Foundation to develop a nanofiber membrane that can be sandwiched between the cloth pieces in a homemade mask, increasing efficacy up to 99%.


2 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Animation-streaming glasses to help children with autism establish eye contact

By Rachel Smith
September 02, 2020
Hoping to create a solution to the eye-contact conundrum for children with autism, a BYU Engineering Capstone team and their sponsor have created a pair of glasses that display dynamic animated images on the lenses, potentially increasing the engagement and comfort of the child as they work to improve eye contact.


3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU 3D printing protective masks for first responders during coronavirus crisis

Natalie Ipson
By Natalie Ipson
April 01, 2020
In a corner lab of the BYU Crabtree Technology Building, there is a constant hum as five machines zip back and forth. Hour by hour and layer by layer, a group of 3D printers are churning out protective face masks.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Shark Tank deal for BYU inventors of massage therapy ball

Todd Hollingshead
By Todd Hollingshead
October 28, 2019
Rollins Center-supported startup Myostorm lands deal on ABC's prime-time show.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

Study reveals birds' surprising sound source

April 09, 2019
The best place for a bird's voice box is low in the airway, researchers find
4 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
Intellect

BYU engineers making a more people-friendly robot

Todd Hollingshead
By Todd Hollingshead
March 19, 2019
Equipped with funding and support from NASA, Brigham Young University mechanical engineers have built an inflatable robot similar to the lovable Baymax character from Disney’s Big Hero Six.
1 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
Next