BB-8 of Star Wars fame is known for its adorable beeps, dome-shaped head and spherical body. But fighting alongside the Resistance is just one of its many talents. As this spherical robot rolls across surfaces, it’s exhibiting holonomy, a phenomenon in rigid body dynamics that Berkeley researchers think may have broad applications in real-life robotics. …
ME Professor Oliver O’Reilly Wins University of Galway 2023 Alumni Award
University of Galway has announced the winners of the 2023 Alumni Awards to be presented at a gala banquet on Friday June 16, 2023. The Alumni Awards recognize individual excellence and achievements among the University’s 128,000 alumni worldwide. These awardees are leaders who have demonstrated impact and excellence in their fields on a local, national, …
Oliver O’Reilly, Victoria Plaut selected as 2022-23 vice provosts
UC Berkeley selected Oliver O’Reilly as the vice provost for undergraduate education and Victoria Plaut as the vice provost for faculty. Previously the interim vice provost for the same position, O’Reilly now serves the full role of supporting “diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and justice efforts” starting July 1, according to a campus press release. “I’m …
Oliver O’Reilly is Berkeley’s new vice provost for undergraduate education
Oliver O’Reilly, whose 30-year career at UC Berkeley is characterized by a deep passion for teaching and student success, will be the campus’s new vice provost for undergraduate education starting this Friday, July 1, officials announced today. O’Reilly has been interim vice provost for undergraduate education during the past year. A mechanical engineering professor who’s …
Introducing UC Berkeley’s interim head of undergraduate education: ME Professor Oliver O’Reilly
Chancellor Carol T. Christ and Paul Alivisatos, executive vice chancellor and provost, sent the following message to the campus community on We are pleased to announce that Oliver M. O’Reilly has agreed to serve as interim vice provost for undergraduate education. This appointment is effective on July 1, 2021. Oliver is a professor in the …
Oliver O’Reilly: In a Year of Turmoil, Berkeley Abides
On the morning of Sunday, March 8, 2020, I left my colleagues in mechanical engineering at a team-building activity at the Cal Boathouse in Oakland for an urgent conference call that Chancellor Christ had organized with senior campus leadership. At the time, I was chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. While many of us …
Two ME Faculty Recognized for Service to Campus
The Berkeley Faculty Service Award (BFSA) honors a member of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate for their outstanding and dedicated service to the campus, and whose activities as a faculty member have significantly enhanced the quality of the campus as an educational institution and community of scholars. This award recognizes Senate service, which …
ME Professors Alice Agogino and Oliver O’Reilly to Receive 2021 Berkeley Faculty Service Award
ME Professors Alice Agogino and Oliver O’Reilly are the co-recipients of the 2021 Berkeley Faculty Service Award (BFSA). The BFSA honors a member of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate for their outstanding and dedicated service to the campus, and whose activities as a faculty member have significantly enhanced the quality of the campus …
UC Berkeley Researchers Find Pasta Can Help Build Assistive Robots
UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering Oliver O’Reilly and campus graduate mechanical engineering student Nathaniel Goldberg constructed a model showing changes in the shape of spaghetti after it is placed in water, which could help researchers create more human-like robots.
Is Spaghetti the Key to Building a Better Robot?
Look at some spaghetti and you might think lunch. When Oliver O’Reilly looks at spaghetti, he thinks about the future of robotics. Pasta and robots might not seem like natural bedfellows, but O’Reilly, a UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering, hopes his research can help engineers construct better models and designs for soft robots.
Mathematical Model Shows Why Spaghetti Curls When Cooked
Scientists, as they are wont to do, have analyzed the way spaghetti curls as it cooks. Researchers Nathaniel Goldberg and Oliver O’Reilly, of U.C. Berkeley’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, used their noodles—we’re so sorry—to put together a mathematical model that accounts for gravity, density, elasticity, and rigidity in cooking “rod-shaped” noodles like spaghetti.
California Mechanics for the Greater Good Design Competition
This semester, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the McDonald family (Evan – BA Arts & Arch 1989, MA Arch 1994, MBA 2000, and Christy, BA Fine Arts 1989), the department held a competition among ME102B design projects entitled “California Mechanics for the Greater Good Design Competition.” ME102B is a senior level capstone design course, …
TUNE IN: ME Grad Students Give Whirlwind of TV & Radio Interviews After Their Shoelace Research Goes Viral
ME graduate students Christopher Daily-Diamond and Christine Gregg have had a pretty busy week (or being that they are grad students, perhaps we should say a BUSIER week!). Their research, conducted alongside ME Professor Oliver O’Reilly in the Dynamics Lab, on why shoelaces come untied, has piqued interest around the world after being published in the …
ME Graduate Students Team Up in the O’Reilly Lab to Test Their Shoe-String Theory
Photo by Christopher Daily-Diamond Shoe-string theory: Science shows why shoelaces come untied By Brett Israel, Media Relations brett.israel@berkeley.edu, 510 643-7741 Berkeley – A new study by mechanical engineers at UC Berkeley finally shows why your shoelaces may keep coming untied. It’s a question that everyone asks, often after stopping to retie their shoes, yet one …