Enrique, Joel, and Kevin 

In February and March, 2003 Enrique, Joel and Kevin from John Abbott participated in different R&D activities. 

Enrique

Enrique got involved with the characterization of the Tape Sensor, which lead to a new prototype, the Beam Deflection Sensor, used to measure small bending of a (beam) structure (industrial applications, construction and robotics). This work required a lot of patience and meticulous manipulation of opto-mechanical assemblies. Towards the end of the internship, Enrique collaborated with Joel and Kevin on the Robot Finger project.

Joel

Joel started working on a device to constrict polymer optical fiber, which is used in the constriction transducer, a device that can dramatically reduce the cost and improve the accuracy of sensing in robotics. He used a fast iterative process between 3D modeling and prototyping until a functional was built and successfully tested. The device was later used in the Robot Finger project. 

Kevin

Kevin began his internship program by developing a fiber scoring device, which is another method for sensitizing polymer optical fiber, to be used in robotics like the constriction transducer. Kevin and Joel demonstrated creative thinking by applying constriction and scoring to a PMMA optical fiber to build a sensitive Robot Finger prototype. 

The three videos below show advancement of three SENSORICA projects, made possible by our interns.