Kristan Marlow

Kristan HeadshotKristan Marlow, BSc
PhD candidate

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Email: kmmar@deakin.edu.au

 

Biography

Kristan Marlow is a PhD candidate under the supervision of Professor Saied Nahavandi, Dr Mats Isaksson and Dr Hamid Abdi. He is currently studying towards a PhD in parallel robotics at Deakin University’s Centre for Intelligent Systems Research. In 2012 he graduated from Deakin University’s Engineering Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Mechatronics and Robotics with first class honours. Upon graduating he was awarded the Alfred Deakin Medal and Vice Chancellors prize for his academic success and contribution to university life. He was also awarded multiple other awards for the most outstanding final year project in the Bachelor of Engineering. The project involved the physical design and prototyping of an axis-symmetric parallel haptic device, based on the Octahedral Hexarot mechanism.

Axis-Symmetric1

Kristan’s PhD research involves the investigation into the singularities, stiffness and dynamics of axis-symmetric parallel manipulators and the experimental analysis and verification of the findings. Axis-symmetric parallel mechanisms consists of a central column that houses the rotary actuators that enable rotation of the upper arms. Each upper arm is linked through one or more lower arms to the end-effector.

These mechanisms are capable of achieving similar positional workspace to that of a serial manipulator, while their rotational workspace is typically reduced due to manipulator singularities and collisions between the multiple links. Kristan’s research into these mechanisms could facilitate the implementation of high performance axis-symmetric manipulators in the medical robotics field, as well as in a vast array of other fields including haptics, immersive simulators and the manufacturing environment.

Kristan was awarded an Endeavour Research Fellowship to continue his research abroad for a six month period. This led him to become part of the King’s Centre for Robotics Research (CoRe) team. At CoRe, he has continued his research into parallel mechanisms under the guidance of Professor Jian Dai and Dr Ketao Zhang. During his time at CoRe, Kristan has been part of many other projects including Locating Gynaecological tumours using haptic device with Gautam Mehra, and the creation of a robotic doll for comedian Matthew Highton with Ali Shafti.

Research Interests

  • Parallel mechanisms
  • Robotics
  • Additive manufacturing techniques
  • Computer controlled technologies

Publications

Conferences

K. Marlow, M. Isaksson, H. Abdi, and S. Nahavandi, “Workspace Analysis of Two Similar 3-DOF Axis-Symmetric Parallel Manipulators,” in IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Chicago, Illinois, 14-18September 2014.