萝莉社

鈥淭he invention provides means for enabling a user to control a large industrial/commercial door unit (of a warehouse, machine shed, barn, or airplane hangar) without using a mounted door panel or dedicated remote control devices,鈥� Eslami explained.

鈥淭he user can monitor the door status by looking at live streaming video of the door in the mobile application.  This is particularly useful for giant commercial "lift" doors鈥� to prevent the door from hitting and damaging objects in the door鈥檚 path, ie. cattle or expensive machinery.鈥�  Users can manage multiple doors from one app loaded on a mobile device, which also provides a log history of each door's status. 

Eslami worked with 萝莉社鈥檚 Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization to file the paperwork to patent his team鈥檚 invention. He received word the patent for 鈥淚nternet-Based Remote Control and Monitoring System for Commercial Doors Using Mobile Devices鈥� was granted on June 23.

鈥淲e have been in touch with a couple of companies for licensing the patent while it was pending. I think we have a good shot at getting a licensing deal now that it is granted,鈥� said Eslami.

鈥淲hat Dr. Eslami and his team were able to accomplish for this local company goes to the heart of what we mean when we say we are an economic driver for the state of Kansas,鈥� said Dennis Livesay, dean of the College of Engineering. 鈥淲e have the will and talent to provide innovative cost-saving solutions for companies, big and small.鈥�

Now, in addition to saving the local company money by eliminating the need to buy dedicated remotes, Dr. Eslami stands to make money for himself as well as Wichita State. Under university policy, faculty and the university each receive 50% of revenue generated by faculty patents.

According to Robert D. Gerlach, executive director of the Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization, licensing revenue for the university is a modest but growing source of income. 鈥淭he good news is it鈥檚 a positive upward trend,鈥� Gerlach said.

Getting a patent is a significant accomplishment. Nearly a dozen have been granted to College of Engineering faculty in the past three years. Those awarded patents include, but are not limited to: Dr. Vinod Namboodiri for a beacon-based indoor wayfinding system; Dr. Viswanathan Madhavan for an apparatus and method for simulating machining and other forming operations; Dr. Shuang Gu for a method to convert of natural gas into clean liquid fuels; Dr. Hyuck M. Kwon for a system and method for generating exact symbol error rates of frequency-hopped signals; and Dr. Ramazan Asmatulu for a composite magnetic nanoparticle drug delivery system.

Ulrich Director Leslie Brothers, who acquired the piece, said the work was selected for the site because it captures the spirit of the dramatic changes that have taken place at the university in the last decade. It will, moreover, be a fitting and lasting tribute to the contributions of President John Bardo, who initiated and oversaw those changes prior to his passing in 2019.

鈥淭his sculpture is a perfect fit for us on so many levels,鈥� Brothers said. 鈥淚t evokes the spirits of invention, innovation, and change that we are accustomed to here in Wichita and at 萝莉社, and it comes from a world-renowned sculptor. It is definitely a major addition not just to our collection or the 萝莉社 campus, but for the greater city of Wichita as well.鈥�

Indeed, Aycock is a force of nature in her own right, heralded as one of the most important artists in contemporary sculpture; in 2018, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture from The International Sculpture Center. She has blazed a unique path working within the art world at the intersection of sculpture, architecture, technology, and science. Her addition to the Ulrich鈥檚 outdoor sculpture collection will help boost its representation of key female artists. The collection currently contains a handful of key works by major women sculptors, including Louise Nevelson, Barbara Hepworth, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, and, most recently, Elyn Zimmerman, but, overall, women are still underrepresented in the collection. Adding Aycock鈥檚 piece will help remedy that.

In conjunction with installing Twister Grande (tall), the Ulrich is also currently featuring the exhibition Alice Aycock in the Studio, which is an installation of drawings and ephemera that seeks to illuminate the artist's creative process and contextualize her sculpture as part of the larger artistic practice that has unfolded over the course of 50 years. That exhibition is currently on view by appointment only. To schedule an appointment call the Museum at 316-978-3664.

Image caption: Rendition of Alice Aycock sculpture Twister Grande (tall). Image courtesy of the Ulrich Museum of Art.

To read more about the installation event, including directions for parking, click on .