This project aims to further the Distributed Robotics Laboratory’s investigation of low-cost mechanisms for self-folding from 2D printed sheets into 3D mobile robotic platforms having commercial and academic applications. While experimentation involving folding by thermal heating, light application, and electrical actuation has resulted in functional prototypes of such self-contained robots, this project seeks to go so far as fabricating the fundamental electronic components and internal circuitry necessary for actuated locomotion using similar techniques of self-assembly. Potential avenues of expansion on the study include the application of biological themes to self-assembly, the fabrication of more mechanically-oriented devices such as musical instruments, and a deeper investigation into various designs of foldable structures

Having always been interested in educational technology, I was a UROP at the Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group and the Center for Educational Computing Initiative’s iLabs. I developed software for medical applications at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and most recently worked on Radar Cross Section simulation software with Boeing.