Computational Design for Printable Hydraulic Robots
Existing 3-D-printers cannot print fully-integrated actuated structures yet 3-D-printed robots will require this capability. To this end the Distributed Robotics Lab has developed a 3-D printing technique that enables the printing of hydraulic elements directly as part of a superstructure. This development has allowed one-shot printing of functional robots requiring only the addition of electronic components. At this stage however the software interface for generating print files has no validation step “° S this research will create a validation package to ensure print parameters are met such as overhang support void detection wall thickness etc. After this is complete the computational design of hydraulic robots will be investigated posed as a machine-learning optimization problem.

As a 2 & 6 double major 3-D printed robotics is an incredibly interesting field allowing me to use knowledge and intuition from both majors. I hope to gain experience in 3-D printed robot design and in particular machine learning for robot design. Finally I chose the SuperUROP program to aid in structuring the research providing a timeline goals and an audience to share my results.