Xitlali's 2024 Summer Blog
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1. WEEK 4 (July 15-19)
July 15
Today I finished up making my cardboard prototype. While I was finishing up, Dr. Cutkosky helped me figure out how to fasten the glass to the structure. He suggested using post screws, that was very helpful since I was planning on using heat set inserts and then using screws. So after Dr. Cutkosky’s suggestions I finished up my prototype and then made a quick drawing of the new fastening mechanism. I was having a hard time visualizing my drawing so I made a small prototype of the fastening mechanism. After I figured out the mechanism I CADed it. After looking at the CAD I noticed that it looks similar to the CAD I did last week (July 10). However, this time this CAD is more finalized with the final dimensions and now I know what type of fasteners I will be using. Tomorrow I plan to start getting the structure 3D printed and while it's printing to work on the soldering diagram.
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2. WEEK 3 (July 8-12)
July 12
Today we had a lab meeting. There EmJ talked more about the gecko grippers and the challenges of using them in Space. After that, I was looking at the different fasteners the lab had and tried to briefly look for heat set inserts for when I eventually 3D print the structure. For the rest of the day I was working on making a rough prototype of the structure out of cardboard. I didn’t finish but I got the majority of the components. I have to make the walls of the structure and figure out how to fasten the glass panel to the structure. Towards the end of the day the lab went to the robotics happy hour at the robotics center. It was nice to mingle and talk to other SURI’s from the other labs.
July 11
Today I spent most of today reCADing my design. While reCADing my design, I learned more about how to use more of Onshape, specially making different part studios for each part in my design and assembling it in an assembly file and how to make a part in context to the assembly. In this new CAD I added some new elements such as a stop so the glass plane doesn’t move side to side. Additionally, I added more details in my CAD to accurately represent the final structure with all the components of the FTIR. My previous CAD had rough shapes and dimensions of the elements. Since all the dimensions are mostly finalized, I plan on making a rough prototype tomorrow with cardboard and foam core. I plan to follow the CAD exactly and see if there are any flaws. By doing this I also plan to finalize how I will fix the glass plane to the structure. I have an idea, but don’t want to CAD it yet in case it doesn’t work. Hopefully I’ll figure out the fastening system tomorrow.
July 10
Today I spent most of my time CADing my other designs. While CADing I realized some modifications to my design that I could make that were similar to my first design. After I CADed up my design I talked to EmJ to see if I missed any details in my design. She mentioned adding another hard stop on the sides of the glass so it doesn’t move side to side and to do the same thing for the LEDs. Tomorrow I plan to make a finalized CAD of the structure since the CAD I did today was just for me to get my idea on ‘paper’. Today I also learned how to cast, in the casting corner. I don’t think I’ll do a lot of casting during the summer but it was nice to learn since I haven’t casted silicone before.
July 9
Today I mostly spent CADing the design I worked on yesterday. When CADing I was also thinking through what other constraints there were that I didn’t think of when I was drawing out my idea. This made the CADing a bit longer than I thought it would. Additionally, I am unfamiliar with Onshape so that also contributed to CADing taking a while. However, I made some progress, I finished the CAD so that I could visualize my idea. After I was done CADing, I drew out another idea for the structure for the FTIR. I started CADing this idea today also, and I plan to finish it tomorrow. After I finish CADing my second idea I plan to make a finalized version. With this version I plan to CAD it more detailed (adding fasteners and other things that are not included in my current CAD files) so then I can start building it.
Red Box = Switch, Light Blue Rectangle = Transparent material, Dark Blue Rectangle = Battery, Orange Rectangle = Splitboard. The rectangles in the corner connect the main structure to the transparent material so they move as one. Dark Blue Rectangle = LED light. The LEDs are attached to the structure by having a slot attached to the structure. This ensures that the LEDs are kept in place.
July 8
Schematic of my idea on how to arrange stripboard, battery, switch, LEDs and wires.
Today I spent the majority of the day trying to figure out how to transfer what I did on the breadboard with the LEDs, switch and battery to a stripboard. Afterwards, I got a basic schematic done that I thought was good. I started drawing some ideas for the overall structure. The structure has to hold the stripboard, wires, battery, LEDs and the switch. After I came up with a drawing, I was having some trouble visualizing whether the idea would work out or not. To get a sense, I started to CAD my idea on Onshape, but this is my first time using Onshape so CADing it up is taking me longer than usual since I have to look up where certain buttons and functions are. Tomorrow I plan to keep CADing my current design and iterate upon it. After I iterate a couple times, I plan to discuss with EmJ my iterations, and how to improve them and then eventually move on to making the structure.
3. WEEK 2 (July 1-3)
July 3
Today I was mostly figuring out how to have the RGB LEDs in a row and turn on simultaneously on the breadboard without the Arduino and instead use a battery. Additionally, I had the LEDs turn on with a switch. First I did this on Tinkercad, then I moved on to actually building it. After I completed this, I learned how to solder. I practiced soldering by soldering some pins to wires. Then I also learned how to use the heat shrink. I thought soldering was pretty fun, it was easier than I expected it to be.
July 2
Today I continued to play around with the Arduino. This time, however, I was working on how to get a RGB LED light to work. After that I then worked on getting multiple LEDs on the breadboard and working, so that they all light up at the same time and with the same color. Finally, I got a button working so that the lights would turn on and off with the button being pressed. Some next steps are making the same configuration but without an Arduino and instead using a battery. To get this started, I am going to use Tinkercad. Also, I am going to start working on building and CADing the structure and housing for the LEDs and the battery and anything else that is going to be used.
July 1
Today I read some papers regarding some testing rigs for the gecko grippers. After I read up on that, I started playing around with Arduinos, since I have not used them before. First I went on Tinkercad to play around with circuits and follow some tutorials. Afterward, I played around with the hardware. My first Arduino project was making a light blink.
- Huh, T. M., Liu, C., Hashizume, J., Chen, T. G., Suresh, S. A., Chang, F. K., & Cutkosky, M. R. (2018). Active sensing for measuring contact of thin film gecko-inspired adhesives. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 3(4), 3263-3270.
- Chu, Z., Wang, C., Hai, X., Deng, J., Cui, J., & Sun, L. (2019). Analysis and measurement of adhesive behavior for gecko‐inspired synthetic microwedge structure. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 6(12), 1900283.
- Eason, E. V., Hawkes, E. W., Windheim, M., Christensen, D. L., Libby, T., & Cutkosky, M. R. (2015). Stress distribution and contact area measurements of a gecko toe using a high-resolution tactile sensor. Bioinspiration & biomimetics, 10(1), 016013.
4. WEEK 1 (June 24-28)
June 28
Today I attended my first entire lab meeting. During this meeting all the undergrads briefly presented on what they learned this week. Then after we presented, Jun En presented what he was researching. It was cool to see the drones flying around and the video using gaussian splatting. Then I worked on a previous ME 1 Pset that involved the gecko gripper for flat panels. After that EmJ went over the Pset and went over a starter project and some other papers. The starter project consists of making a way to quantitatively test the gecko gripper tiles. On Monday I plan to start brainstorming on some ideas in how to build this testing rig.
- Gecko Gripper ME1 Pset
- Parness, A., Heverly, M., Hilgemann, E., Copel, D., Wettels, N., Hilgendorf, T., ... & Kennedy, B. (2013). On-off adhesive grippers for earth-orbit. In AIAA SPACE 2013 Conference and Exposition (p. 5533).
- Parness, A., Hilgendorf, T., Daniel, P., Frost, M., White, V., & Kennedy, B. (2013, March). Controllable on-off adhesion for earth orbit grappling applications. In 2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference (pp. 1-11). IEEE.
June 27
Today the lab went on a retreat to Butano State Park. There I wrote down my goals for the summer and presented them to the lab. Afterwards, we all went on a hike and then to Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park. I enjoyed hanging out with the lab and getting to know everyone.
June 26
Today I reviewed some of the papers that EmJ linked. EmJ also showed me, Abi and Saad how to use the Form Lab 3D printer. After that, the three of us were brainstorming design ideas for the tiles used for the gecko gripper project. After lunch, I sat in on the adhesives meeting. After the meeting me and some other people organized two other bins in the lab that contained foams, meshes, and other materials. Afterwards, EmJ met with me, Abi, and Saad to further discuss the gecko gripper project and some more details regarding the design and the next steps and goals.
June 25
This morning I helped clean the lab. After most of the cleaning was complete I was then introduced to the gecko gripper and what the project goals were for that specific project. Additionally, EmJ linked some papers for me and the other undergrads to read to get some background knowledge of the project. Afterwards at around 3:30 pm the Da Vinci Summer Camp, which is a middle school group, toured the lab. It was nice seeing their reactions and their enthusiasm for the projects that were being worked on in the lab.
- Hawkes, E. W., Jiang, H., & Cutkosky, M. R. (2016). Three-dimensional dynamic surface grasping with dry adhesion. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 35(8), 943-958.
June 24
Today I had a brief meeting to go over the BDML website and how to add my profile page. Then I went into the lab and was introduced to some of the projects. Then I had a meeting for SURI to meet the other SURI students and to go over some logistics. After lunch, I went to the biology building to see frogs that are used to test TadBot. Finally, EmJ demonstrated on the CNC, how the molds are made for the gecko adhesive.