The Sabancı University Photography Club (SÜFOK) opens a porthole to the world of the dockyards with the “Dockyards” exhibition at Tomtom Fun Aid

Held by the Sabancı University Photography Club (SÜFOK) with the support of Tomtom Fun Aid, an urban transformation project, the “Dockyards” photography exhibition will be available for visiting from the 23rd of October to the 20th of November.

“Dockyards” approaches the Tuzla dockyards –¬frequently making headlines with work accidents– from an industrial photography perspective.  Despite the dockyards’ tendency to keep its doors closed due to work safety and confidentiality issues, the outdoor exhibition at Tomtom Fun Aid, Istanbul’s new center for fun, culture and arts, attempts to answer a few of the questions on everyone’s minds.  Photographs captured during active work at the dockyards illustrate the shipbuilding and maintenance industry while revealing the corroded underside of mankind’s seeming dominance over the seas.  The exhibition includes portraits of workers in the field, shedding some light on the various aspects of the unknown.

‘Dockyards’ photography exhibition:
Place: Tomtom Fun Aid, Tomtom Mahallesi, Akarsu, Acara, Tosbağa Streets, Galatasaray/Istanbul
Date: October 23rd – November 20th, 2010
Opening Cocktail: Saturday, October 23rd, Tomtom Fun Aid -  We* Lounge, 7.30 pm

Kabir Tambar’s first-prize winning article at the Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards 2009 was published in the Comparative Studies in Society and History.

A young researcher at the University of Vermont, Kabir Tambar had won the 2009 Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award with his article “The Aesthetics of Public Visibility: Alevi Semah and the Paradoxes of Pluralism in Turkey.”

Please click here to read the article.

An article by faculty member Ersin Göğüş concerning his work on neutron stars was published in Science, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific publications. 

The work conducted by an international team of which Göğüş is a member observed that a neutron star with a relatively weak outer magnetic field can still cause bursts of X and gamma rays.  This discovery illustrates that the inner magnetic field of the star can be much more powerful than an outer magnetic field that is insufficient to cause bursts.  Considering that one of the strongest magnetic fields obtained on Earth is emitted by an MR device and the magnetic fields of neutron stars are approximately 100 billion times stronger, it is not surprising that scientists are very excited about this discovery.  Bursts on these stars, which serve as natural laboratories for scientists, help them observe how intense magnetic fields interact with matter in nature.

The Milky Way galaxy is comprised of more than 100 billion heavenly bodies, including Earth, the sun and the moon.  Despite so many heavenly bodies, there are only two thousand neutron stars in the known Milky Way.  Matter is in its densest form in neutron stars, and these bodies have immensely powerful magnetic fields.  Even the weakest of these stars have 10 thousand times that of the sun’s power of attraction.  Until last March, astrophysicists were only aware of 6 such neutron stars.  As the most powerful magnets in the universe, an explosion on a neutron star only lasts about one-tenth of a second.  In this very short interval, the star radiates energy that is almost equal to the energy radiated by the sun in a year.  Last March, a team led by Sabancı University faculty member Ersin Göğüş had discovered the 7th neutron star possessing these properties.  Now, they observe the X and gamma rays emitted by a neutron star estimated to be six thousand light years away as part of an observation project endorsed by the NASA.

A team led by Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Mechatronic Engineering faculty member Kemalettin Erbatur developed Turkey’s first humanoid robot.

Named SURALP (acronym for Sabancı University Robot Research Laboratory Platform), Turkey’s first humanoid robot was presented to the public at the Sabancı University campus in Tuzla on Wednesday, October 13th.
Turkey’s First Bipedal Humaniod Robot: SURALP (Sabancı University Robot Research Laboratory Platform)
Research on humanoid robots in the world began more than four decades ago, and picked up pace in the mid-‘90s.  Bipedal movement of the robot is an advantage in overcoming obstacles present in human environments.  It is also generally accepted that humanoid robots hold a greater chance of being accepted as social creatures by humans compared to non-humaniod robots.  These arguments motivate much research in robot science.  A wealth of research has been conducte don humanoid robots and impressive results have been obtained.  Nevertheless, there remains significant ground to be covered to enable humans to use humanoid robots in their own environments.  A bipedal robot has a propensity to lose babalce quickly due to its articulated legs, and ensuring the safe mobility of bipedal robots poses a difficult control problem. 

Irregularities and varying inclines on surfaces add to the complexity of the problem.  In order to become helpers to humans, humanoid robots must not only walk, but also use their hands to interact with the environment and hold, push and carry objects.  This interaction requires force control techniques for contact, and camera-assisted visual control for orientation toward objects.

The ongoing research on humanoid robots at Sabancı University is a source of pride for Turkey, and a groundbreaking result of this research was the design and production of Turkey’s first humanoid robot, SURALP.

Preparations
Sabancı University research on bipedal humanoid robots began with the work conducted by Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences member Associate Professor Kemalettin Erbatur at the Yokohama National University as a visiting professor in 2001.  Erbatur returned to Turkey in 2002 with the ultimate goal of designing and manufacturing a live-scale humanoid robot in Turkey.  Humanoid robot research was made one of the key research focuses of the Sabancı University Mechatronic Engineering Program, led by Professor Asif Şabanoviç.  Preparation took much of the period from 2002 to 2006.  During this stage, Erbatur and his students determined the materials, sensors, motors and mechanical parts to be used in the production of the robot, and obtained these.  A 3D humanoid robot simulation software –developed by Erbatur and with few similar applications across the world– was used to test various methods of bipedal robot movement.

TÜBİTAK Project
The experimental stage began in 2006 with the Research Project 106E040 led by Associate Professor Kemalettin Erbatur and financially supported by TÜBİTAK.  This project included the development of degisn, production and control techniques applicable to a humanoid robot for theoretical and applied work on inclined surface mobility and interaction with the environment.  Force and momentum requirements obtained from walking simulations were used in endurance analyses of the pre-design stage legs.  A partial robot with two legs and a torso containing control equipment (the leg module) was made in 2007.  In the light of the mobility experiments with the leg module, the design and production of arms, hands, a torso with an articulated waist, and the head and neck serving as the mobile platform for the camera arrays continued.  The construction of the live-scale robot was completed by the end of 2008, and the robot was named SURALP (acronym for Sabancı University Robot Research Laboratory Platform).

SURALP has 29 ranges of movement in total, encompassing the arms, legs, neck and torso.  Development of mobility and interaction with the environment continued after the successful completion of the TÜBİTAK project 106E040 in 2009.  The robot can now walk on surfaces with varying inclines, hold on to walls if it loses balance, and use its camera arrays and force sensors to grab and replace objects.

Accepted worldwide
Associate Professor Erbatur and his team authored many international publications where they discussed the design details of SURALP and the mobility and interaction techniques they worked on.  SURALP is now considered one of the leading humanoid robots of the world, and a cornerstone in the research for humanoid robots.

A new era in robotics in Turkey
The design and production of SURALP and the theoretical foundation for bipedal mobility was developed by scientists from Turkey, which is a breakthrough development for robotics in Turkey.  Few countries in the world have succeeded in building humanoid robots, Japan and Korea leading the way.  Fully humanoid robots have only recently been built in the USA and Spain.  Turkey took its place among these nations with SURALP.  When Associate Professor Erbatur began his work on humanoid robots in 2001, Turkey was 30 years behind in humanoid robot technology.  This gap narrowed down to 10 years after the design and production of SURALP in Turkey.  This made Turkey one of the fastest-developing nations in robotics.

Efficient use of resources reduced cost
Another great achievement of Associate Professor Kemalettin Erbatur and his team is the building of SURALP with much less cost and manpower than its counterparts in other countries.  When Honda built the humanoid robot P2 in the late 1990s, they claimed a cost of 100 million dollars and 200 man-years for the building of the robot.  The entire spending for SURALP does not exceed one million dollars.

The great success of the core team
Kemalettin Erbatur worked with 10 graduate and doctorate students during the design and production of SURALP.  Four faculty members of the Mechatronics Program also supported the effort throughout the TÜBİTAK project.  Sabancı University technicians were involved in the building of the mechanical system.  Institutions in other countries working on humanoid robots have much greater people assets.  This is a fact that underlines the success of the core team at Sabancı University.

Sabancı University members who contributed to the design, production and control system creation of SURALP from 2002 to 2010:
Associate Professor Kemalettin Erbatur: Humanoid Robot Research Team Lead
Dr. Özkan Bebek: Graduate Student, 2002-2003
Dr. Yasser Elkahlout: Graduate Student, 2002-2003
Ozan Ayhan: Yüksek.Lisans Öğrencisi, 2003-2004
Okan Kurt: Graduate Student, 2004-2006
Utku Seven: Graduate Student, 2005-2007, Doctoral Student, 2007-…
Evrim Taşkıran: Graduate Student, 2007-2009
Özer Koca: Graduate Student, 2007-2009
Metin Yılmaz: Graduate Student, 2008-2010
Kaan Can Fidan: Graduate Student, 2010-…
Tunç Akbaş: Graduate Student, 2010-…

As part of the TÜBİTAK project 106E040 from 2006 to 2009, Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Mechatronic Engineering Program faculty members Professor Asif Şabanoviç, Associate Professor Mustafa Ünel, Assistant Professor Güllü Kızıltaş and Assistant Professor Ahmet Onat assisted the project.

Sabancı University technicians Mehmet Güler, Süleyman Tutkun, İlker Sevgen and Umut Demir worked on the production of many robot parts.

Graduate students who took part in the project gained vast experience and expertise that continues to build their careers.  For example, doctoral student Utku Seven has a level of expertise that leads to nationwide seminars on the use of mechanical design programs.  Students who joined the project during its early phase graduated and joined academia or industrial R&D departments.  Evrim Taşkıran is employed in various projects of one of the leading humanoid robot research groups in Europe.

Construction of the robot
SURALP is scaled to the size of an average human.  Its legs and arms have 6 joints each.  The nack has two joints.  The torso is articulated at the waist.  The hand opens and closes with a linear motion.  The majority of the robot is built with aviation-grade, 7000-series aluminum.  Belts and pulleys transmit the rotation of DC motors to the joint mechanisms.  The perception system of t he robot is comprised of various incline, force and momentum sensors and camera arrays.  The electronic control unit of SURALP is located in its back.  Walking and other functions are completed by the control and perception algorithms running on this equipment.
 
SURALP BY NUMBERS
Height 1644 mm
Weight 114 kg
Upper leg length 280 mm
Lower leg length 270 mm
Ankle-sole distance 122,6 mm
Sole dimensions 240 mm x 140 mm
Upper arm length 219 mm
Lower arm length 255,5 mm

On th 6 October Sikorski presented six Poles with the prestigious Bene Merito medals for their services in the promotion of culture and strengthening of Poland 's position in the international arena.

"I am glad that here in Ankara we have such people who disseminate knowledge about Poland and friendly attitude for Poland in such an important country as Turkey ," the minister said during a ceremony in Poland 's embassy.
Honored with the medal were Maria Nowotna, a pianist working at Bilkent University in Ankara; professor Marek Brzozowski, a lecturer at the graphic arts department of the same university; musician Anatol Jagoda, professor at Selcuk University in Konya; Mariusz Sladczyk, working at graphic arts department of Bilkent University; Janusz Szprot, pianist, composer, director of jazz department at Bilkent University; Wieslaw Zaremba, professor at painting department of Sabanci University in Istanbul.

Source: PAP news agency, Warsaw , in English 1447 gmt 7 Oct 10

Professor Mahir Şaul of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will be giving the first FASS History Seminar of the 2010-2011 academic year on Tuesday, 12th October. The talk has been scheduled for 15:40 in Room G049 in the Arts and Social Sciences building.

After finishing his BA at Robert College/Boğaziçi University in 1975, Mahir Şaul went on to do an Anthropology PhD at Indiana University (1982), where he turned from an initial interest in the Middle East to a focus on West Africa, starting with Burkina Faso (which was Upper Volta at the time). His book (with Patrick Royer) on West African Challenge to Empire, offering a close reading of an anti-colonial revolt in the Volta-Bani region, won the Royal Anthropological Association's Amaury Talbot Prize in 2002. He also received the Association for African Anthropology's Distinguished Africanist Award in 2004. He is currently conducting a special research project in Istanbul. 

Prof. Şaul will be speaking on "West Africa's historical connections with the Mediterranean, Islam, and the Ottoman world : A personal journey." The lecture will be followed by questions and discussion.

Through the SU Scholarship Fund more than 800 of our University students in financial need have received scholarships. With your help, we could increase these numbers…

Small gifts can create big effects…
•    100 gifts of 20 TRY fund one student’s annual transportation expenses
•    10 gifts of 55 TRY fund one student’s monthly meal expenses
•    7 gifts of 100 TRY fund one student’s annual book expenses

How to make a gift…

To show your support by taking part in this initiative, you can choose to make your gift via credit card, or bank wire transfer/EFT through the Institutional Development’s secure giving webpage at https://supay.sabanciuniv.edu/en/giving

Whether paying by credit card or wire transfer/EFT, please select “SU Scholarship Fund” and type in “2010 Eurasia Marathon” in the notes section of the form. When making your gift via wire transfer/EFT, please also include this information in the “comments/notes” section.

If you have questions regarding this initiative, or you would like to learn about other ways to support Sabancı University, please contact Aslı Özguz: aozguz@sabanciuniv.edu or 0216 483 9016.

Thank you for your support!
http://giving.sabanciuniv.edu

 
SU Scholarship Fund Team

 Aziz Şimşir
(FMAN Faculty Member; FASS-Alumnus)

Aslı Özgüz
(Institutional Development)

Bahar Mete
(FMAN-Student)
 
Berker Taşoluk
(SU Supporter)

Burcu Taşoluk
(FMAN Faculty Member)

Çağrı Çağlar
(FASS-Alumnus; FMAN-Student)

Çetin Suyabatmaz
(FENS-Alumnus & Student)

Doğan Dalay
(FASS-Student)

Ebru Hüsrevoğlu
(FENS-Alumna & Student)

Gizem Ekiz
(FASS-Alumna)

Irmak Özkaşıkçı
(FMAN-Alumna)

Kader Arıman
(SU Supporter)

Kerem Özgüz
(SU Supporter)

Kıvılcım Döğerlioğlu Demir
(FMAN Faculty Member)

Mine Beydağ
(FMAN-Student)

Mohammed Dawoud
(FENS-Student)

Mehmet Nama
(Student Resources)

Murat Öziş
(FASS-Alumnus & Student)

Nakiye Boyacıgiller
(FMAN Dean)

Ömer Özkırımlı
(FENS-Alumnus & Student)

Salih Arıman
(Institutional Development)

Sevgi Şairoğlu
(FASS-Student)

Şule Yalçın
(Career/Alumni Office)

Tevhide Altekin
(FMAN Faculty Member)

Tolga Mar
(Student Resources)

Ülkü Köknel
(FMAN Manager)

Volkan Özgüz
(SU-NUM Director)

Zeynep Erdemir
(FENS-Student)

“Feature-based design and material blending for free-form heterogeneous object modeling”

Bahattin Koç with his student Kuntal Samanta was awarded the Top Cited Author at Computer Aided Design Journal for their previous work titled “Feature-based design and freeform modeling for heterogeneous objects"

In this research, Dr. Koc and his student Kuntal Samanta have developed new feature based representation and a novel material blending method to represent and design complex 3D heterogeneous (hybrid) parts. Three-dimensional complex heterogeneous objects with continuous material variation functions have been optimized such that they can satisfy the intended functional requirements. New theories developed in heterogeneous object modeling in this research not only advance the knowledge in computer aided design (CAD) and but also enable  development of smart products which can satisfy different and sometimes conflicting  functional requirements.

Dr. Koc is currently extending this research in the development of tissue and organ substitutes, active nano/micro-scale sensors and devices, customized consumer products with improved quality and novel composite materials.

Example generated heterogeneous object models based on functional and geometric requirements

Extension of this research in Heterogeneous Scaffolding for Tissue Engineering/Wound healing

In loving memory of Dicle Koğacıoğlu...

'Thinking of Dicle/Dicle'yi Düşünüyoruz'

Sabancı University Civic Involvement Projects (CIP) held the first ALL-CIP event of 2010 at the Karaköy Communication Center on Sunday, October 3rd.  The event brought together hall Sabancı University students who are team leaders and advisors for CIP, and the projects to take place in the 2010-2011 academic year were introduced.  The event included many fun activities for CIP members to plan their year.

100 participants started the event with a Communication and Feedback Techniques training by psychologist Deniz Doğruöz.

Pizza-making was the preferred activity of students to choose the projects they would lead for one year!

The pizza workshop concluded the day.  100 students set up groups to design and prepare the pizzas they would like.  Delicious pizzas and warm conversation ended the day.