Taylor Keller - Summer Blog - 2026

Today was SURI orientation, and after getting a breakdown of the program's summer schedule, Tiffany and I went on a scavenger hunt around campus before returning to lunch. After lunch, I went to the BDML lab in MERL and set up my account on this website with EmJ, while also learning about the general schedule and expectations for the summer.

For the first half of the day, I was locked in on safety trainings, which I finally finished after almost 3 hours (they really should let you put ts on 2X speed). Then after lunch, I read the paper about the integrated gripper, and its effectiveness in space, and I discussed it with EmJ. Then I did a small statics problem on finding the forces exerted by the paired flat grippers, and walked through how experimentation was able to get the values for the parameters of the problem.

This morning, I read a bunch more papers and discussed them with EmJ. After lunch, I did our lab-specific safety training and took a tour of the SRC.

EmJ and I started off the morning by running an experiment with the gecko lasso in the basement of Durand. We first created a small program in Google Sheets to turn data from a force sensor into real measurements in Newtons, and then to relate the current applied to a motor to the force it produced from a specific radius. Then we ran the experiment by attaching the gecko lasso to a model satellite, spinning it up, and then using the motor from before to de-spin, and using motion capture to measure the motion of the model satellite.

In the afternoon, I worked on the CAD design for the initial prototype of my gripper that will utilize the adhesives to lift a glass block. By the end of the day, I was able to finish the design and sent it to print over the long weekend.

Went surfing in HMB on Friday, went to Santa Cruz for the first time on Saturday, and spent the day with my family, going to HMB again for Father's Day.

Today was all about assembling the gripper prototypes I designed last week. EmJ showed me how to take them from the printer and clean + cure the resin prints, and after doing that, I sanded them down. After doing so, I had to go to the SURI "fireside chat" and listen to a presentation on Stanford's PhD program. After this, I came back and assembled the grippers. While they didn't work per se (the string designed to engage the adhesive ended up peeling/rotating the pads), it did give me insight into how to improve the design, ideas that I brainstormed at the end of the day. Given that I was feeling sick and rotten, I'm surprised I got so much done.

After the brainstorming at the end of yesterday, and after discussing with EmJ and Mark, I modified the CAD model of my gripper such that the string was pulling from the center of the pad, and that there is a space for a spring/rubber band to attach to keep the pads in place. At the end of the day, I started a print.

Today, I assembled the print from yesterday and tested the new gripper with the new pads. With the dowel, it wouldn't work properly and kept pivoting, even with the extended channel for sliding and rubber band. After removing the dowels, I tested it again, and this time it did kind of work, but only when you held the tiles down onto the surface you were gripping, and even then it only picked up light things.

Today, I started by creating 3 new designs of the gripper, one where the pads are suspended in the center by 3 rubber bands, one where they're suspended by 1 compliant block (foam), and one where they're supported by both. Then, after reading a paper that concretely listed out the design constraints for making a gripper and discussing with Mark and EmJ, I decided to focus on just prototyping tiles for the moment instead of a whole gripper, as opposed to working on all the different elements all at the same time. I designed 4 different gripper variations and sent them to print.

ANGEL ISLAND EXCURSION! The whole lab went to Angel Island to hike, make our posters with our summer goals, and eat. I love Angel Island, so I had a blast on this trip, both the spending time in nature part and the getting to know the other summer students part. I did get a nasty sunburn though.

I had a blast having a bonfire with friends in Half Moon Bay!

I started today ready to test my different gripper pads. I took them off the print bed, cleaned and cured them, removed the supports, and sanded them down. I then went to the weekly SURI lunch and presentation, and while there, I checked, and it turns out that (plot twist) I had to go to jury duty alllllll the way up in South San Francisco, so I had to leave early. :(

Today, I started by finishing setting up the gripper pads of different shapes and testing them. Of the three new designs, the circle pad worked the best, though I can't say if that's due to the superiority of circles or the fact that the other tiles were bigger and thus more susceptible to warping during the printing process (they were left hanging for 3 days).

After testing my pads, EmJ showed me and Ernesto the first steps for making adhesive, that being sanding down ceramic tiles, baking them, and gluing the adhesive backing onto them. Finally, I finished the design of and printed my third gripper prototype, which will be ready tomorrow. At the end of the day, I started reading the paper on testing gecko adhesives.

I started the day right off with cleaning, curing, and processing my print from the day before. I then put the whole gripper together, starting by tying all the pads to the center piece so I wouldn't have to knot them together, and ending by setting up the 3 rubber bands at each pad to suspend it. I went to lunch and came back to test it, and IT WORKED (finally). It was able to lift the blue plastic rectangle with ease, and it was just barely able to lift the glass block, assuming good adhesion and placement. Next steps will be to pick up the glass block more regularly and securely, and hopefully be able to maneuver it similarly to the plastic piece. Afterwards, EmJ, Ernesto, and I did the next steps in the adhesive manufacturing process. I then tried to make the gripper work with just foam blocks, but it didn't seem to work as well.

Today, I read a paper on the best methods for testing strips of gecko adhesive. Then I started working on CADing a new design for my gripper, this time with interchangeable springs for suspension instead of just rubber bands. This way, I could make the strings less strong and allow for easier alignment of the pads when brought in contact with a flat surface.

I spent my 4th of July weekend in Tahoe.