I am robotics engineer with experience in space and manipulation systems. At Caltech (Mechanical Engineering 24') , I created universal grippers under Prof. Joel Burdick. I co-founded Caltech Air and Outer Space (CAOS) and held leadership roles in teams that secured over $360,000 in the 2021 and 2022 NASA BIG Idea Challenge with the mentorship of Prof. Elachi and Prof. Chung. At the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and AeroVironment Inc., I designed and tested robotic arms and legs for future Mars Helicopters.
Embedded Files
Publications
Publications
The Fractal Hand-I: A Non-Anthropomorphic, but Synergistic, Adaptable Gripper
The Fractal Hand-I: A Non-Anthropomorphic, but Synergistic, Adaptable Gripper
Joel Burdick, Malcolm Tisdale
Accepted to ICRA 2024
The Fractal Hand-II: Reviving a Classic Mechanism for Contemporary Grasping Challenges
The Fractal Hand-II: Reviving a Classic Mechanism for Contemporary Grasping Challenges
Design of a Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal in Service of Cabled Exploration (LATTICE)
Design of a Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal in Service of Cabled Exploration (LATTICE)
Co-first author, one of ten authors
AIAA SciTech Forum 2023
[link]
Finalist in International Student Paper Competition
Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal in-service-of Cabled Exploration
Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal in-service-of Cabled Exploration
Proposal and Design Shuttle Subystem Lead, one of sixty-two authors
NASA BIG Idea Forum 2022
[report] [Caltech news] [Caltech news]
Most Innovative Concept Award
Habitat Orientable & Modular Electrodynamic Shield
Habitat Orientable & Modular Electrodynamic Shield
Project lead, one of twenty-four authors
NASA BIG Idea Forum 2021
[report] [Caltech news] [Caltech news]
Best Product Development Award
Project Highlights
Project Highlights
The Fractal Hand
The Fractal Hand
A hand with a single actuator, easily integrable into existing parallel jaw grippers, able to conform to complex objects, firmly. Using a fractal arrangement of remote center mechanisms, the device trades mechanical complexity to lessen perceptual requirements. Extending upon a universal vise patented in 1912, my work was to extend this idea to a minimally actuated universal planar and spatial gripper with modern manufacturing and grasping analysis.
Caltech - Senior Thesis, SURF Fellowship, Research Credits
Mars Sample Return Helicopter
Mars Sample Return Helicopter
Rock cores drilled and deposited across the Martian surface by the Perseverance rover need to be collected for a journey back to Earth. I worked on the manipulator team, tasked with gripper design and testing, for the arm used to retrieve the sample tubes. I surveyed the design space and conducted studies on several designs. I then developed a test program and apparatus to test the grippers' performance with various uncertainties and terrains.
Quadrupedal Oil Refinery Inspection Robot
Quadrupedal Oil Refinery Inspection Robot
The narrow, layered, towers of oil distillation columns present a hazardous and unpleasant environment that needs to be regularly need detailed inspections. As part of a joint JPL and Caltech (AMBER Lab) team, we were creating an autonomous quadrupedal inspection robot for safer working conditions. I revised the four-DOF arm that allows the robot to climb vertically through narrow hatches. To validate the robot in a simulated environment I constructed a 1-ton mock-up distillation tower and testing environment.
JPL - Extreme Environment Robotics Intern 6 mons. in 2022
Habitat Orientable and Modular Electrodynamic Shield (HOMES)
Habitat Orientable and Modular Electrodynamic Shield (HOMES)
Lunar dust presents a significant to astronaut health and equipment reliability for the upcoming Artemis program. Automatically and easily remove dust from habitable volumes, I led a team of Caltech undergraduates to develop a novel dust mitigation technology and test it to TRL 5. The system consists of modular panels that can be connected in any planar configuration and transport dust along configurable paths using electrodynamic waves.
Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal In-the-service-of Cabled Exploration (LATTICE)
Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal In-the-service-of Cabled Exploration (LATTICE)
The viability of long-term human habitation of the moon relies on the ability to collect water ice from permanently shadowed regions in deep inaccessible craters. Current wheeled lunar robots are unable to traverse the steep, loose, slopes necessary to collect water ice. I helped lead a team of Caltech undergraduates to develop a novel robotic lunar infrastructure that creates cabled paths for repeated, efficient, travel into and out of lunar craters. I lead the design and prototyping of the cable-riding robot and later led the effort to turn the project into a Caltech mechanical engineering capstone course.
Caltech - HOMES: Oct 2020 to Nov 2021, LATTICE: Nov 2021 to Nov 2022
Mars Helicopter Sample Arm
Mars Helicopter Sample Arm
The ability to conduct science on Mars is severely limited by the speed of rovers and the terrain they can access. Aerial drones can greatly enhance our ability to procure in-situ measurements and samples (as now demonstrated by Ingenuity). I worked with the hardware lead of the Ingenuity Helicopter, Matt Keennon, to develop a 3-DOF, 15-gram, manipulator with a gripper.
Optic Flow Gimbal for Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Optic Flow Gimbal for Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles can operate in confined spaces but their camera feeds can suffer due to rapid accelerations due to their low inertia. I developed the control system for a 1-gram micro camera gimbal using optic flow sensors, inspired by fruit flies.
AeroVironment - Jun 2020 to Dec 2020
Selected Honours
Selected Honours
Most Visionary Concept, NASA BIG Idea Forum 2022
NASA BIG Idea Challenge 2022 Award ($180,000 Grant)
Founded one of the seven university teams selected to develop robotic systems with unconventional locomotion modalities for extreme lunar terrains
Best Product Development, NASA BIG Idea Forum 2021
NASA BIG Idea Challenge 2021 Award ($180,000 Grant)
Founded one of seven university teams selected to develop lunar dust mitigation technologies
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Three awards for research funding at Caltech
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