Experience

Muse: Disney Imaginations Semifinalists 2020

An experience at Walden Pond that encourages visitors to find a spirit of idleness and contemplation, and build a momentary community around these values.

Summer with QuantAQ!

Retrofitted a van to become the Olin mobile air quality monitoring lab.

Worked with QuantAQ on an early prototype of a plug-and-play device for connecting reference instruments to the cloud.

Senior Capstone Project: Democratizing Air Quality

We built a pilot network of low-cost air quality sensors in East Boston to provide hyper-local data for citizens to make real-time health decisions

QuantAQ, a startup, is continuing the technical development of this project!

Jellyfish Forest

An installation to bring attention to climate change by imagining a speculative future where jellyfish roam in wooded forests.

The jellyfish were made out of recycled plastic collected from community members and hung in a patch of trees on campus where all could interact with them.

MORA: Miniature Oscillating Robot Agent

A robotic fish designed to demonstrate a low-cost (<$100), small-scale (~12 cm) biomimetic actuation method for efficient swimming.

Our goal is to enable the development of underwater robot swarms for synthetic biology testbeds and environmental monitoring in fragile environments.

MORA: Project Branding

Developed a style and logo for the MORA (Miniature Oscillating Robot Agent) project.

The style was used to format external-facing project content, such as conference papers, posters, and future work concepts.

MDPs: Path Planning with Uncertainty

Implemented an efficient path planning algorithm using Markov Decision Processes.

With 10,000 states used to represent a map, our algorithm takes 25.5 seconds to solve for the optimal path (20% of the total time), compared with the 183 seconds (60% of the total time) it takes to use the python mdptoolbox implementation.

Tabrati: Disney Imaginations Participants 2019

An experience that honors the original intent of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - a wonder for all peoples. The park celebrates the feats of ancient civilizations and unifying power of the natural world.

Software Engineering Intern at CRL

The SREHD system is a robot that semi-autonomously detects mines and IEDs, removing soldiers from the dangerous and difficult job of doing this by hand.

As an intern in 2018, I performed a combination of testing and hunting down the root causes of reported issues with several robots. Additionally, I redesigned the help user interface on the operator control unit, working to strike a balance between a helpful layout in the field and using the already developed features and aesthetic.

The FabLab

A design proposal for solving the second hand clothing crisis in Kenya inspired by nature. The FabLab is a community space that encourages innovation and recycling of second hand clothing to facilitate the creation of sustainable ideas and opportunities for Kenyans.

Using techniques from biomimetic design, we analyzed the second hand clothing commerce chain, developed design principles, and studied biological strategies to define structure-function relationships.

Robot Dolphin

An underwater vehicle with a biomimetic propulsion system inspired by the movement of a dolphin tail.

The robot was designed to navigate between a sequence of different-colored buoys in a pool, autonomously identifying and approaching its next target buoy.

Shape Memory Alloy Synthesis

Synthesized copper-based shape memory alloys (SMAs) using simple, metallurgical processes.

Our team succeeded in reproducing the characteristic microstructure of SMA materials, yet the mechanical properties remained elusive.

Terrapin

This friendly robot turtle takes care of a plant inside of its shell by moving in and out of the light.

A terrarium on legs, it moves with a turtle-inspired gait using Klann linkages in its two front feet.

Whale Target

A life-size target of the back of a whale for drone whale tagging research.

The MDF frame, covered with StyroSpray-hardened fabric, measures 20 ft in length and 8 ft at its widest, an eight of an adult blue whale.

RFID Fish Tagging Research

Project in partnership with the Large Pelagics Research Center and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group to develop a better way to report tagged fish.

We designed the first prototype of a mobile platform, called HI (Hawaii) Tag, to create an incentive for fishermen to participate in local tagging projects and help fisheries make better-informed decisions about management and protection of marine ecosystems.

Tree Squirrel Wind Sculpture

A wind-powered sculpture which changes seasons as the wind pushes the leaves around.

The final prototype was hung on light posts on the Olin campus and displayed to the public.

Electric Eel

This electric sculpture of brass and aluminum mimics the rippling, oscillatory motion of an eel.

A tail on a separate drive train beats back and forth to complete the motion.