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Le projet OVMI, Object Volant Mimant l'Insecte, vise à la réalisation d'un nano-drone à ailes vibrantes de la taille d'un insecte volant (1-2cm) capable d'imiter son vol battu. Le projet s'articule autour de deux laboratoires, l'IEMN et l'Onera: l'IEMN conçoit, réalise et optimise structurellement les prototypes, tandis que l'Onera développe un modèle aéroélastique afin d'aider la conception de prototypes et d'optimiser leurs performances aérodynamiques. Contrairement à d'autres systèmes de nano-drones,

Le projet propose une approche originale basée sur la bio-inspiration, l'utilisation intensive de technologies microsystèmes (MEMS) et une architecture système orientée vers l'efficacité énergétique. Notre concept de nano-drone se décline autour d'une structure de base sans articulation, appelée TWT (Tergum-Wing-Thorax), regroupant l'actionneur électromagnétique, les ailes et le châssis. L'actionneur est monté au centre du thorax sur le tergum et excite la voilure sur l'un de ses modes propres de flexion.

Du fait des masses excentrées du bord d'attaque, une torsion passive se superpose au mouvement de flexion et permet d'obtenir une cinématique similaire à celle d'un insecte volant. Les matériaux choisis pour la réalisation de nos prototypes (SU-8 et PDMS) offrent également des performances proches de celles observées chez l'insecte mais également compatible avec des techniques de fabrication MEMS courantes. Différentes structures TWT peuvent ainsi être produite de manière rapide, fiable et répétitive facilitant ainsi l'évaluation et l'évolution de nos prototypes.

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Sponsorised by Michèle Leduc, chairman of Fédération Française des Sociétés Scientifiques, the 19th edition of Physics Olympiads in France took place on January 27th and 28th in Palais de la découverte in Paris.

The global amount for the prizes is 25,000 euros and some teams will represent France in international competitions.

The Jury running the Physics olympiads counts researchers, teachers, members of the national education, scientific journalists and some members of the sponsoring companies. Jurys evaluate the originality of the project, how experimental realisations are made and exhibited, and the quality of the presentation.

This contest is organized since 1992 by the two founding associations : French Physics Society  and the Union of physics and chemistry teachers.

Press release - edition 2011
To download the presentation of Physics Olympiads

More information about the physics olympiads

Project: Three-dimensional modeling from images using photogrammetry.

Descriptive :
Research studies how to automatically construct digital 3D models from images using photogrammetry. The state of the art allows the automatic reconstruction of a building envelope as a mesh. But this information is too low-level to be used as a digital model and can also be tainted with inaccuracies and local reconstruction errors. Regularization and higher-level surface modeling are required to semantize the models.

The objective is:

• to develop methods to automatically or semi-automatically construct elements of a high-level digital model of a building starting from a low-level 3D model (point cloud or mesh) as well as photographs used to construct this low-level model. This includes the reconstruction of geometric primitives such as planes for walls, and the identification and positioning of openings (windows, doors). This reconstruction could be based on a priori knowledge of the building type, expressed by a semantized shape grammar.
• to exploit architectural priors expressed as shape grammars to drive 3D model construction from 2D drawings. The focus will be on semantization rather than on vectorization.

Link: http://imagine.enpc.fr/ or http://recherche.ign.fr/labos/matis/

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EADS's commitment to nurturing scientific culture through education and protecting the heritage of aeronautics are in the center of the creation of new aviation maintenance vocational baccalaureate course from the French Aristide Briand High School, located in the socially disadvantaged area of Blanc-Mesnil near Paris.

The heart of this project is the restoration of an helicopter and an aircraft by the students.

These students spend their school year dismantling the helicopter, sand-blasting and cleaning the blades, turbine and cockpit, and painting it with Eurocopter engineers and technicians, Association Les Alouettes and AMPE volunteers.

"This course is the first one in its category in this academic district. Teaming up with the leaders in the aeronautical industry and enabling our young students to work side by side with professionals is a real advantage for our small school. We had the same views as the EADS Foundation on sharing expertise and paving the way for these young students' future, because they are the future of aeronautics," said the school's Head Teacher Patrick Berthelot.

This project, in particular, provided an opportunity to build a bridge between two generations from different background and, maybe, to foster vocations.

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Descriptive :
The goal of project is to reduce dramatically the amount of organic solvent used in a reaction.

How?

• Microwaves: multicomponent reaction (Petasis) and Suzuki coupling.
• Mechanical activation (mortar, ball-mill): synthesis of nitrones, hydrazones and peptides.
• No excess of reactants
• Full conversion without formation of by-products

Why do you use the microwave?

• Mixing of reactants before irradiation without solvent
• Simplified procedure to reduce the amount of solvent
• Quick heating
• Reduced reaction times, better yields
• Use of solid supports (alumina, silica, montmorillonite…)

Link: http://www.ibmm.univ-montp1.fr/

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