John F. O'Brien

Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Room 5034, Engineering Building
University of Wyoming
College of Engineering and Applied Science
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Dept. 3295
1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
obrienj@uwyo.edu
Phone: 307.766.2162
Fax: 307.766.2248

Current Classes:

• EE4220- Use Internet Explorer to open \\Eeserver2\eelab_k\EE4220\fall08

• B.S. Aerospace Engineering, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
• M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Wyoming
• Ph.D. Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Areas of Expertise:

Robotics, Automatic Control

Kinematics, dynamics, and control of parallel mechanisms. Applications include vibration suppression and precision pointing for space/military payloads, and manufacturing.

Related Experience:

MISSILE DEFENSE NATIONAL TEAM SYSTEMS (GENERAL DYNAMICS) - Senior Lead Engineer, 2/02 - 8/03.

GENERAL DYNAMICS - Lead Engineer, 6/01 - 2/02.

NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY - Member of Technical Staff, 6/91 - 8/97. Academic Part-Time, 12/89 - 6/91.

Fellowship Awards:

• 1998 DOE Integrated Manufacturing Predoctoral Fellowship
• 1996 NASA Graduate Student Research Program Fellowship
• 1996 University of Wyoming-NASA Space Grant Fellowship

Selected Publications:

• Carruthers, D.J., O’Brien, J.F., McInroy, J.E., and Yang, Y., “Development of a Voice Coil-Actuated Limited-DOF Parallel Mechanism for Vibration Suppression (invited paper),” Journal of Systems and Control Engineering, (accepted 2008).
• Yang, Y. and O’Brien, J.F., “A Sequential Method for the Singularity Free Workspace Design of a Planar 3-arm Parallel Robot,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Systems, Nice, France, September 2008.
• Yang, Y. and O’Brien, J.F., “Finding Unmanipulable Singularities in Parallel Mechanisms Using Jacobian Decomposition,” Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, Vol 53, No 1, pp 3-19, September 2008.
• O’Brien, J.F.,“High Order Control with Nonlinear Compensation for Rudder Roll Stabilization,” ASNE Automation and Control Conference, Biloxi, MS, December 2007.
• Yang, Y. and O’Brien, J.F., “On the Determination of Parallel Mechanism Unmanipulable Singularities,” IASTED Conference on Robotics and Applications, Wurzburg, Germany, August 2007.
• Yang, Y. and O’Brien, J.F., “A Case Study of a Planar 3-RPR Parallel Robot Singularity Free Workspace Design,” IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, Harbin, China, August 2007.
• O’Brien, J.F. and Wen, J.T., “Kinematic Control of Parallel Robots Exhibiting Self-Motion,” International Journal of Automation, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Volume 6, No 1, pp 5-16, April 2007.
• O’Brien, J.F., Jafari F., and Wen, J.T., “Determination of Unstable Singularities in Parallel Robots with N-arms,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol 22, No 1, pp. 160-167, Feb 2006.
• O’Brien, J.F., Jafari, F., and Wen, J.T., “Self Motion in Parallel Mechanisms with More than Three Arms,“ IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, Spain, April 2005.