Francis NickolsProfessor Nickols has taught at universities in the U.K., Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and China. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a Researcher and Product Design engineer in the Ford Motor Co. UK, Lucas Microelectroni Automotive Control Systems, UK, American Machine and Foundry, (AMF) UK, Renishaw Research and Transducers, UK, and Danfoss Flowmeters, UK.
In 2009, he was awarded 1st prize for the most innovative engineering product invention for the Crown Prince award in Brunei. At Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, he was personally responsible for the detailed design and construction of an all-wood automobile that led his team of students to win 1st prize Design, 1st prize Safety and 2nd prize Fuel Economy in the Diesel engine category of the Shell Eco Marathon Asia 2014. His research interests concern (i) bench-top robots for mechatronics engineering education and, (ii) biomimicking robot muscles, for which he has recently been granted a US patent dated 16 May 2017 No.9,653,962. He is a fervent proponent of high quality engineering education attested by the innovative robots that he designs and builds thus creating highly effective custom-built teaching and learning materials for students. Read More Read Less