The primary goal of the project is to refine the functionality of an animatronic figure that ATA will use to enhance their analytical design, robotics, and controls capabilities. The project involves: (1) designing and implementing a breakaway mechanism at the upper arm segment of the animatronic figure, (2) creating a dynamic model that predicts arm breakaway under different motion profiles, and (3) developing a control strategy that safely operates the arm in the event of a breakaway.

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Team Members:

Vi Ly

Xuebin Zhu

Ze Zhuang

Matthew Henry

Devanshu (Dev) Gulati

Project Sponsor(s):

David Gregg

Temperature control system for a rugged 3D printer. The system is designed to heat printing chamber to 50°C and maintain that temperature regardless of external conditions. The system is resistant to shocks and vibrations and can operate between -15°C and 50°C ambient temperature.

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Team Members:

Eric Shnell

Duo Xu

Juan Gutierrez

Myriam Lopez

Elvin Lin

Project Sponsor(s):

Craitor: Eric Shnell

Our project is to develop a plan to modify a Tesla to be wheelchair accessible.

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Team Members:

Sarah Litto

Ricardo Gonzalez

Candice Mallari

Haobo Huang

Aron Tran

Project Sponsor(s):

Scott Carlson

The objective of this project is to automate the heating process for a metal-salt nanocomposite material given a target impedance spectra. Our controller makes data analysis and the sintering process more efficient for the lab in terms of time and result replication.

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Team Members:

Arturo Medina

Sean Orellana

Diego Porroa

Nankyong Yoo

Project Sponsor(s):

Professor Ping Liu

Victoria Petrova

The purpose of this project was to investigate a new mounting foot design for a Solar Turbines Titan-250 turbine. Our solution would need to incorporate an actuation method which can produce precise movement, and a locking mechanism capable of arresting the feet under all conditions. The team identified two actuation solutions: a set of jacking bolts, and a worm gear screw jack. Both designs have their own advantages such as cost, maintenance, and ease of operation.

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Team Members:

Nigel Coseip

Alberto Guardado

Vicente Lopez-Espinosa

Daniel Lopez Villa

Nicholas Pereyda

Project Sponsor(s):

Lucas Massey​, NPI Mech. Design Engineer

Matt Ostiguy​, NPI Mech. Design Engineer/Section Lead

Gregor Robertson​, Program Manager/Group Manager

This project provided two solutions for automating the decapping of COVID-19 sample test tubes in UC San Diego's EXCITE Lab. The goal of the project was to increase overall testing throughput by decreasing decapping time and circumventing limitations on certain equipment.

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Team Members:

Sidney Chan

Miya Coimbra

Garrett Dawson

Matthew Lok

Haoyi Tian

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Rob Knight

Dr. Gene Yeo

The purpose of the endotracheal tube support system is to reduce the pressure placed on the posterior larynx by the endotracheal tube during the length of the intubation period. Our team developed a sleek, strong, and durable clip which, once applied, guides the endotracheal tube to bend away from the posterior larynx therefore decreasing the chance of the patient’s voice box being permanently injured while intubated.

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Team Members:

Shanlin Chen

Rufu Gong

James Knights

Dylan Haselton

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Andrew Vahabzadeh-Hagh

The Tongue Touch Mouse and Keyboard device was designed with 5 tongue-responsive capacitive touch sensors to provide computer accessibility for our client, Stacy Bibb, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy Spastic Quadriplegia. The main objective of the project was creating a comfortable, reliable, and reusable headset for Stacy’s use.

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Team Members:

Garrett Almeida

Punit Aswani

Jiahuan He

Kwangbok Roh

Jesus Salazar

Project Sponsor(s):

Jason Eldred, Interaction Designer (https://notaquestion.carbonmade.com)

The Bibb Family

During surgery, anesthesiologists experience difficulty monitoring a patient's blood pressure due to external forces on non-invasive blood pressure cuffs. These forces, such as a surgeon or technician leaning on the patient's arm, can cause disturbances in cuff pressure and result in inaccurate blood pressure readings. Our team has designed easy-to-use mechanical shields to minimize the effects that external forces have on perioperative blood pressure readings.

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Team Members:

Austin Chung

Albert Hernandez

Jeffrey Onuma

Jordan Wong

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Iris Chu, Regional Anesthesiology Fellow

We focus on a biomedical device that creates a suction mechanism to grip onto a rat intestine model and is built with an insertion tunnel that allows a hydrogel syringe to inject the fluid at the intestinal site. The 3D printed device successfully gripped the rat intestine underwater, through which 1 μL water with red dye was injected. Red staining of the intestinal wall indicated successful delivery into the submucosal layer.

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Team Members:

Avinash Laha

Jiansong Wang

Justin Oshiro

Aziz Mogannam

Project Sponsor(s):

Geert W. Schmid-Schönbein, Ph.D.

The design, manufacturing, and testing of a composite anti-intrusion plate for the front impact structure of a Formula SAE vehicle.

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Team Members:

Norman Chen-Liaw

Dante Khandelwal

Amy Liang

Saketh Madamala

Efran Martinez

Project Sponsor(s):

Rob Shanahan

Triton Racing

UC San Diego’s Formula SAE team, Triton Racing, has been improving the power output of their engine year after year, making it difficult for student drivers to control the car. A traction control system was implemented to assist amateur drivers in maximizing the car’s performance by electronically controlling the engine output to ensure tire wheel grip remains in the optimum range throughout various driving scenarios.

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Team Members:

Jack Ringelberg

Charlie Roman

Jason Kuang

Kevin Li-Zhang

Project Sponsor(s):

Rob Shanahan

Triton Racing

This project analyzes the quality control of very small spherical capsules that are used to hold gases in a process called Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). The surface roughness and sphericity of the capsules affect the ICF process so they must be mapped using an atomic force microscope. General Atomics uses a robotic arm to re-orient the capsule to map the entire surface. The reorientation process has been found to contribute ~3° of rotational error which this project investigates.

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Team Members:

Janette Juarez

Isaac Kiah

Cris Madla

Erik Sanchez

Ryan Wong

Project Sponsor(s):

General Atomics, Energy Group:

Kurt Boehm

Matthew Quinn

The pursuit of space as the next frontier of human exploration raises the question of how space microgravity affects the human brain. To study these effects, brain samples will be sent to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. However, the high G-forces of a rocket launch may damage the samples. As a result, an acceleration centrifuge simulator was designed to simulate a rocket launch profile to account for these high G-forces.

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Team Members:

Christian Chan

David Morales

Jerry Lai

Junsong Kim

Mary Nguyen

Project Sponsor(s):

Erik Virre, M.D., Ph.D. - Director of The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, UCSD, La Jolla, CA

Bill McLamb, Ph.D. - Director of Science & Technology Management at Space Tango, Lexington, KY

This bike helmet task light is meant to facilitate field repairs, adjustments, or other needs for close-range illumination while riding in nighttime, twilight, or other low-light conditions. This project is compact, lightweight, has a low-profile housing, and utilizes a universal mounting mechanism which allows the light housing to be removed to recharge its battery. It is durable for shock, vibration, and other rugged mountain biking conditions.

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Team Members:

Skyla Bertsch

Eric Fong

Kent Pinz

Simon Valenzuela

Melvin Vo

Project Sponsor(s):

Travis Downing, Southern California Design Company

A vacuum test platform was designed and manufactured in order to test both installation/removal times of clamps and bolts as well as ensure the connection solution maintained a vacuum of up to 4 in Hg. Undermount toggle clamps in combination with a neoprene foam gasket is a proposed solution to replace the current use of bolts and Sikaflex.

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Team Members:

Patrick Finn

Jose Garcia

John David Lopez

Josue Luna

Young Ju Yun

Project Sponsor(s):

Wayne Shaw - Project Sponsor

Marco Vagani - Project Mentor

Hakob Sargsyan - Project Mentor

We present the design of ATJ graphite rods developed for ablation experiments under high heat flux (up to 50 MW/m2) in the lower divertor of the DIII-D tokamak.

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Team Members:

Michael Hanson

Jason Escalera

Hadith Taheri

Daniel Zubovic

Caitlin Villareal

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Dmitri Orlov, Center for Energy Research, UC San Diego

This project focuses on the development of a new hose clamp to be used in Wildland firefighting to stop the high-pressure flow in a fire hose to attach more hoses. The project achieved this goal through testing and modeling the hose used by firefighters to get a better understanding of the force needed to restrict the flow of water. The team designed, analyzed and prototyped a newer hose clamp. This clamp will be less expensive, durable, and easier to use than existing hose clamp models.

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Team Members:

Tyler Arlan

Tate Castillo

Fateh Sandhu

Diego Tocol

Kyle Venstrom

Project Sponsor(s):

The Wildfire Conservancy

Matt Rahn, PhD, MS, JD

Rick Swan

Peter Chen, PhD. a stem cell researcher from the Biosciences Institute has engaged student engineers to construct a prototype bioreactor chamber that has the ability to stimulate a target cell population with: magnetic stimulation, electrical stimulation, static compression, and exposure to laminar shear stress. The completed bioreactor test chamber provides researchers with the tools to evaluate the effects of electromechanical stimulation on stem cells in a reproducible manner.

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Team Members:

Samuel Wagner

Dominic Nightingale

Nicholas Sumbria

Alexandre Timonian

Project Sponsor(s):

Peter Chen, PhD of the Biosciences Institute

The Cohu Temperature Control project, sponsored by Cohu Inc. and in conjunction with the project sponsor, Steve Wetzel, aimed to create a marketable flow control module for the Cohu Delta MATRiX semiconductor handler.

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Team Members:

Nathan Zager

Matthew Soohoo

Harrison Lew

Emmanuel Gharehbekloo

Ronald Law

Project Sponsor(s):

Cohu, Inc.

Steve Wetzel

Sponsored by UC San Diego’s Advanced Robotics and Controls Lab, this project focused on the development of a MRI compatible hydraulic arm, which serves as a base for future research and development. The project’s motivation was to develop a system that can robotically perform needle biopsies to enable physicians to diagnose and operate on medical conditions without requiring line-of-sight to the anatomy.

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Team Members:

Anthony Jiang

Dan Truong

Jimmy Do

Julia Doan

Lucas Jonasch

Project Sponsor(s):

Dimitri Schreiber, Ph.D Candidate

Michael Yip, Ph.D

UCSD Advanced Robotics and Control Lab

Our device, which sits nicely underneath a saddle like a saddlebag, is capable of sensing movement of a bike and sending an alert to the user via text messages. To achieve long operation period, the device is equipped with four solar panels which are capable of not only running the system but charging the battery whenever possible.

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Team Members:

Nozomu Harada

Jared Benge

Alex Betancur

Bennet Wells

Boruch Allison

Project Sponsor(s):

Prof. Jan Kleissl

Currently, the constant exposure of astronauts to microgravity in space has the potential to cause lasting negative effects on the human body, which include muscular atrophy and even some cardiovascular deconditioning. To combat this, a mobile wearable circulation pump was designed to simulate gravity by creating a negative pressure of 20 mmHg within the suit and reverting fluid shifts in the body.

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Team Members:

Cindy Alberto

Natalie Gilvaja

Sidney Huen

Brendan Justus

Eni Ikuku

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Lonnie Petersen (MD, PhD)

Petersen Lab

The thermal switch project, sponsored by Professor Carlos F. Coimbra and Gregory Specht, studied the effectiveness of a gas-filled expansion switch design. Specifically, the focus of the project was to prove or disprove the possibility of a gas powered thermal switch to be used on rovers in Lunar and Martian missions.

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Team Members:

Julia Guerrero

Caleb Kobriger

Samantha Lee

Brooke Pauken

Noah Sheen

Project Sponsor(s):

Professor Carlos F. M. Coimbra

Greg Specht

This device automates the process of mixing a solute in a solvent to reach its saturation point. It includes solid dosing and liquid dosing capabilities; light scattering analyzes turbidity and settled solids, reducing the human burden of a common lab experiment.

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Team Members:

Owen Cruise

Yaxin (Cindy) Guan

Kristin Hartsfield

Brandon Lansang

Cade Wohltman

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Ping Liu: Professor of Nanoengineering; Director of the Sustainable Power and Energy Center at UC San Diego

An empirical characterization of the drag coefficient of on a line of multiple spheres as number and spacing between spheres changed. This was primarily done for two in-line spherical floats at various separation distances between floats; tests were also preformed on a single float to set a baseline, and 2-5 floats with zero separation distance.

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Team Members:

Pedro Esteban Lorenzo

Ivy Pham

Kristen Rosier

Alex Schreyer

Benny Wu

Project Sponsor(s):

Mark Gillcrist

Sal Serra

The XLence AM 3D Inertion Printer team focused on a novel method for metal 3D printers using argon and a fluidics loop to replace the vacuum chamber and maintain less than 1% oxygen concentration in the printing area. Successful completion of the project greatly reduces the cost of metal 3D printers and allows smaller engineering companies easier access to them.

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Team Members:

Adan Ruiz

Puning Zhu

Kennan Gonzales

Bradley Robison

Martyn Lizarraga

Project Sponsor(s):

Gary Watts

Jose Doval

Kirt Winter

Researchers studying animals in the wild often use “hair snags”, devices placed in a habitat to collect hair samples when animals interact with them, to collect and study animal DNA. More often than not, current hair snag designs capture hair from more than one individual animal, which makes it harder for researchers to inspect the DNA samples. To correct this issue, we have created a prototype for a single-sampling hair snag that successfully collects and isolates a sample from a single animal.

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Team Members:

Kylie Rankle

Gemma Calandra

Grant Barclay

Katie Freitag

Mathieu Giroud

Project Sponsor(s):

Ian Ingram (Collaborator/PI), Senior Researcher in Population Sustainability with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, https://institute.sandiegozoo.org

Nathan Hui (Staff Engineer), Staff Engineer with Engineers for Exploration, https://e4e.ucsd.edu

The purpose of this project was to develop a universal vehicle equipment rack that could accommodate various types of sporting equipment. The problem statement was to design and manufacture a modular rack that was: versatile with many types of equipment, durable to withstand a maximum load of 430 lbs, and cost-efficient to be less than current competitors.

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Team Members:

Sho Kondo

Matias Lee

Jonathan Song

Huy Tran

Peggy Tran

Project Sponsor(s):

Fred Hamud

This project seeks to create a working prototype for a flexible and mobile Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) device for use in extended microgravity environments, the purpose of which is to partially simulate the effects of gravity to mitigate the deleterious effects of prolonged microgravity exposure on human physiology. Such systems have already been flown on orbit, but all have been stationary. A mobile and flexible system is necessary to maintain the astronauts' operational schedules.

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Team Members:

Nicholas Ashforth

Nathan Burdick

Keva Chin

Nathan George

Mario Miguel

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Lonnie Petersen (MD, PhD)

Petersen Lab

This project focused on the development of a medical device to streamline and improve ultrasound guided nerve blocks. These procedures currently require two medical personnel, an anesthesiologist and an assistant. Ideally, this procedure would be performed by the anesthesiologist alone as the forces felt throughout the injection provide valuable sensory information about the state of the operation. Thus revealing the need for an Auto-Injector device enabling this desired one-person operation.

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Team Members:

Kin (Walter) Chao

Michel Jacob Graff

Tyler Knapp

Trinity Pike

Wiley Weber

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Preetham Suresh

Dr. Matthew Swisher

Shiv Patel

The goal of this project was to optimize COVID-19 testing workflows, allowing for more daily testing and faster results. The problem was boiled down to test tube orientation. The status quo at the EXCITE Lab was for technicians to manually align the test tubes' barcodes in a rack before placing them into a machine that scans the tubes. This wasted about two hours daily. Our solution is a detachable piece that forces the correct alignment of each tube, removing the manual alignment step entirely.

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Team Members:

Abdulkarim Alamad

Candice Chung

Nicole Kidess

Nikola Terzic

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Robert Knight of the UC San Diego Excite Lab

Active outdoor workers exposed to hot and humid environments face the threat of developing heat related illnesses. The dermal cooling system uses thermoelectric cooling in the form of battery powered Peltier devices to cool circulating fluid throughout a network of tubes surrounding the user’s torso. The system is completely portable and can deliver more than 200W of heat removal from the user.

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Team Members:

Rachel Oelsner

Xochilth Saldana

Noa Kerner

Samuel Steeg

Jacob Plata

Project Sponsor(s):

José Ricardo Suárez, MD, PhD, MPH

An specialized tissue stapler designed to close hard-to-reach wounds in the throat region following endoscopic procedures by deploying stainless steel staples similar to traditional skin staplers. Accompanying the stapler are a staple die for stamping the specialized staples, a staple cartridge for sanitary and efficient loading, and a staple removal tip allowing for easy staple extraction once the wound has healed.

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Team Members:

Jack Carson

Xinhe Li

Luyao Zhang

Liang Zhao

Project Sponsor(s):

Andrew Vahabzadeh-Hagh, MD

The objective is to design, build, test, and document a device that can reduce the stress on a doctor’s body when performing an endoscopy by applying mechanical advantage while exerting the necessary forces to perform a colonoscopy. The device must be a cheap, disposable tool or a durable, easy to clean tool that can replace the current hand and towel combination. Finally, the device must not alter the overall procedure as that will impose a training cost on the hospital.

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Team Members:

Jinho Hong

Canwin Tso

Taewook Kim

Isaac Gonzalez

Project Sponsor(s):

Dr. Shanglei Liu

Dr. Mary Krinsky

A lightweight, single-use stylet that gives users real time control of an endotracheal tube, ARTICULET can bend up to 90 degrees on its distal end to reduce intubation time while minimizing complications.

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Team Members:

Alexander Coleman

Bethania Perez

Catlynn Nguyen

Win-Ying Zhao

Project Sponsor(s):

Andrew Vahabzadeh-Hagh, M.D.