Prosthetics.

[Project page] [DOI]

Idea: restore upper-limb functionality with artificial muscles.

I modeled, designed, fabricated, and tested prosthetic fingers and hands driven by HASELs.

Challenges: optimizing the kinematic finger linkage for HASEL force-stroke curve; hand-fabricating actuators.

Self-sensing end-effectors.

[Project page] [YouTube] [DOI]

Idea: conform to target object using soft materials; use changing actuator capacitance for sensing.

I designed, fabricated, and tested versatile, soft end-effectors with capacitive sensing feedback.

Challenges: fabricating multi-material structure; impedance spectroscopy for sensing capacitance at high voltage; integrating high-voltage driving electronics.

I later mentored a Bachelors student who used neural networks to further improve the sensory feedback.

Reconfigurable robots.

[Project page] [YouTube] [DOI]

Idea: couple soft muscles with rigid components to amplify speed and strain; use hexagonal structure as repeating units in arrays.

I designed, modeled, and tested high-speed, high-strain hexagonal modules. I developed an elegant connection scheme for reconfigurable arrays of many modules.

Challenges: many design + test iterations, minimum energy model of modules; elegant mechanical and electrical connection scheme; compact, untethered, high-voltage electronics.

Haptic devices.

[Project page] [Youtube] [DOI]

Idea: leverage diverse, broad-bandwidth actuation of HASELs for rich haptic feedback.

I designed and tested haptic feedback devices driven by HASELs. I implemented a high-voltage safety scheme and developed the full stack for a graphical user-study interface.

Challenges: saliency on low-sensitivity (non-glabrous) skin; downscaling of actuators; high-voltage safety; user-study design and execution.

Other work.