Watchtower Robotics

Problem: Issues would often arise after casting the robot circuitry in silicone. Delicate repair operations had to be done in tight spaces without damaging the surrounding area.

Action: I reached out to my father, a doctor, to see how similar challenges are tackled in human surgery then adapted the techniques to better suit the robot. This included creating an "operating theater" that allowed for the material around the working area to be kept out of the way and the working area to be properly illuminated.

Response: I was able repair issues that would have previously called for a full rebuild, earning me the title "Robot Surgeon"

Skills involved: Soft Robotic construction, precision soldering in tight spaces, surgery, silicone casting

Problem: The robot production process was undocumented and simply passed from one person to the next by word of mouth. This caused inconsistency and made bringing on new people difficult.

Action: As I became experienced with the robot production I documented the processes, creating standard work instruction and quality assurance checklists for 19 fabrication processes.

Result: The standardization of the work processes and quality control points improved sensor quality, reduced robot failures, and made on-boarding significantly easier.

Skills involved: Process documentation, quality control

Problem: The highly unique parts, long fabrication casting times, and sequential processes made rapid production of our soft robot difficult. These factors made a quick-turnaround order from a big client for two robots, right as our summer interns arrived for on-boarding, a challenge.

Action: We used the standard work instructions I created to train the new interns on various aspects of robot production. I worked with the CEO to utilize project management techniques such as developing a Kanban board to optimize the production workflow.

Result: We were able to build the robots twice as quickly as any previous production run and with an eight fold increase in sensor accuracy.

Skills involved: Project management, lean production