Stephen J. Derby

Associate Professor and Director, Flexible Manufacturing Center

Department Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace & Nuclear Engineering

Research Affiliation:
Flexible Manufacturing Center

Education:
Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Mechanical Engineering
M.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Mechanical Engineering
B.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Mechanical Engineering

Professional Background:
Since 1986 Dr. Derby has been an Associate Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. He was an Assistant Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1981 to 1986. He has conducted research in the areas of modular automation, robotics, and manufacturing. He created the Trackbot multihead robotic material handling system, and has taught courses in the areas of automation, mechanisms, and manufacturing systems.

Research:

There are many assembly and material handling problems to solve in today's world. These include:

1. Assembly and processing in a distributed automation environment
2. Fuel Cell stack assembly
3. Material handling devices that remove humans from a repetitive motion problem
4. Creating a research base for designing reduced complexity devices
5. New automation methods for e-commerce fulfillment 

Major interests:

• Automation
• Robotics
• Manufacturing and Design

Research directions include design and fabrication of ditributed robotics, automation, and mechanical design.
For more information on research interests, click here.

Selected Publications:

• Design and Analysis of a Closed Loop Track Based Multi-Head Robot, S. Derby, J. McFadden, K. Brookes, and D. Brown, 2002 Japan-USA Symposium on Flexible Automation, Hiroshima, Japan, July 14-19, pp 1421-1426
• A High Precision Robotic Docking End Effector For 1 Micron Accuracy�, S. Derby and J. McFadden, 2002 ASME DETC Conference, Montreal, Canada, Sept 2002, pp MECH 34340/1-5
• Distributed Control of a Track Based Multi-Head Robot�, S. Derby, and D. Brown, 2002 ASME DETC Conference, Montreal, Canada, Sept 2002, pp CIE 34502/1-6
• Robotic Material Handling of Flexible Fuel Cell Membranes, S. Derby and J. Lippiatt, ASME DETC Conference, Long Beach, CA, Sept 2005, pp DETC2005-84174/1-9
• Pallet Leveling Sensor System, B. Bringmann and S. Derby�, 2005 ASME IMECE Conference, Orlando, FL, Nov 2005, pp IMECE2005-79054/1-6

Past Industrial Projects:

• PEMEAS Fuel Cell process development and automation.
• SAMPCO Automation workcell design

Honors and Awards:

• ASME Fellow
• ASME Best Paper Award 2005 Material Handling Engineering Division

Professional Activities:

• ASME
• SME

Inventions and Patents:

• US #4,919,386 The Closed Loop Assembly Micro Positioner Robotic End effector
• US #6,394,740 Material handling device - Stackbot Palletizer
• US #6,394,736 Bulk mail container unloading system, apparatus and method
• US #6,565,308 Bulk mail container unloading system, apparatus and method
• US #6,688,451 Tracked Based Robotic System - Trackbot
• US #6,860,543 Mechanism for moving a door
• US #6,910,519 Process and apparatus for assembly of wax trees
• US #7,104,588 Mechanism for moving a door
• US #7,147,032 Process and apparatus for assembly of wax trees

Contact Information:
Stephen J. Derby
Jonsson Engineering Center – Room 5028
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street
Troy, N.Y. 12180 USA
Phone: (518) 276-6991
Fax: (518) 276-2623
derbys@rpi.edu

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