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<h2 class="PageTitle">Welcome to the MIT - PERG Kinematic Couplings Website</h2>
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<p>This website is an information repository pertaining to research in kinematic
couplings (KC's) conducted at MIT. Research is currently in progress at the
Precision Engineering Research Group (<a href="http://pergatory.mit.edu">PERG</a>),
under the direction of <a
href="mailto:slocum@mit.edu">Prof. Alexander Slocum</a>, and the Precision Systems
Design and Manufacturing Group (<a href="http://psdam.mit.edu">PSDAM</a>), under
the direction of Prof. Martin Culpepper. </p>
<p>Kinematic couplings are precision-machined mechanical contacts used to precisely
locate components with respect to each other. In the measurement and instrumentation
fields, kinematic couplings (KCs) have been widely used as a method to create
precise and repeatable interfaces on a variety of devices, such as optical lenses
and probe mounts. Recently, KCs have been attempted in industrial environments
on equipment such as engine motors and industrial robots.</p>
<p>On this website, technical documents are presented describing the basic KC
types, the design process, several case studies, and many tools than can be
used to design new interfaces. These documents and tools are intended to further
collaboration between academic researchers and industry sponsors on current
and future projects.</p>
<p>We welcome additional industrial partners joining in a collaborative consortium
for sharing KC design experiences and project implementation knowledge.
We intend for this website to be used as a design portal, with future implementations
of interactive kinematic couplings analysis tools.</p>
<p> Please e-mail <a href="mailto:slocum@mit.edu">Prof. Slocum</a> for more information.
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<p>The following pages are currently available:</p>
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<li><a href="html/about.html">About KC's</a> - General description of KCs and
their use.</li>
<li><a href="html/design_process.html">Design Process</a> - Relatively formalized
design procedure for implementing KCs.</li>
<li><a href="html/documents.html">Documents</a> - Links to all documents on
the webpage, including patent documents, student theses, published papers,
and presentations.</li>
<li><a href="html/tools.html">Tools</a> - Spreadsheets and mathematic codes
for solving some of the common KC forms.</li>
<li><a href="html/case_studies.html">Case Studies</a> - Several in-depth descriptions
of the application of KCs by Prof. Slocum and his students.</li>
<li><a href="html/references.html">References</a> - Detailed list of references
useful for precision design as well as KC design.</li>
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