Summer 2023 (adapted from online demos)

I built this cardboard robot arm for an outreach demonstration as an example of low-cost mechanisms to demonstrate robotics concepts! It has four degrees of freedom actuated by pressing the syringes on the "controller", which pushes fluid into the syringes on the robot arm. There's a hydraulic line to rotate the base, one for the upper and lower arm segments, and one to open and close  the gripper.

It's made entirely from easy-to-obtain components (depending on how you feel about tubing and plastic syringes) such as cardboard, toothpicks, and super glue.

For optional electronic control, I 3D printed some brackets to drive the "controller" syringes with servos and an Arduino (not pictured here).

Spring 2019

We built this walking robot to be the TA entry for the MAE 3 robot contest based off a Klann linkage. MAE 3 is the introduction to engineering class in the UCSD Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program and is centered around a robot contest where students apply their initial learning in design and analysis. The robots are made from a simple kit of parts (motors, springs, switches) and raw materials (3D printed PLA, laser cut acrylic) and the contest is a game where teams get points for each task accomplished. The TA entry is supposed to be a fun design to mildly compete against the students and we (the TAs) thought it would be a fun challenge to make a walking robot from the limited set of parts and no sophisticated control (no microcontrollers allowed)!

2015-2016

Theoretical design of a nuclear reactor power system for an interplanetary spacecraft including designs for the reactor core and material, shielding, and power conversion design.

Constraints include a maximum mass of the system, a minimum power supply capacity, maximum radioactivity dose to astronauts, and regulatory requirements.

Fall 2014

(to be added)