Bio-Inspired Mechanism Fabrication (Plecnik Lab)

In the fall of 2021, I worked under the guidance of Notre Dame Professor Mark Plecnik to take advantage of mixed material FDM dual-extrusion 3D printing to create rigid spherical mechanisms that flexibly interacted with links on a proof-of-concept robotic finger prosthesis to mimic human performance of the finger's cartilage-bone interfaces. The exploitation of coupled motions with multi-material spherical mechanisms minimized the needed controlled degrees of freedom, motorized components, and, therefore, cost of the prosthesis.

Work on the project included both augmenting the finger design in SOLIDWORKS CAD and tweaking printing parameters as well as a deep dive into the mechanics of 3D-printing technology. For much of the semester, progress in the intended direction of the project (rapid prototyping) was impossible due to catastrophic malfunctions in the available machines; I often pivoted to focus my research on learning to repair the complex Raise3D printer. I dis- and re-assembled it initially on a superficial level, and then on a larger scale and in greater depth, investigating and repairing breaks, clogs, and erroneous calibrations.