SMRDC Winners

2023 Winners (Link to All Finalists)

Graduate Category

First Place - "A Multi-stable Elephant Trunk Robot Capable of Abrupt Stiffness Change"

Zheng Kong, Yi Zhang, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Second Place - "A Passively Adaptive Legged Robot with Gear Differentials and Non-Backdrivable Prismatic Legs"

Seonghoon Noh, Yale University, USA

Third Place (Tied) - "8R-Folding Metamorphic Robot Based on Metamorphic Mechanism"

Mi Li, Wujie Shi, Southern University of Science and Technology, and Tianjin University, China

Third Place (Tied) - "An Origami-inspired Iris Valve"

Siyuan Ye, University College Cork, Ireland 

Undergraduate Category

1st place - "COBRA: Crater Observing Bio-inspired Rolling Articulator"

Henry Noyes, Nolan Smithwick, Northeastern University, USA

2nd place - "Continuum Robot and Intermittent Motion Mechanism for Quadruped Robot Applications"

Chuhan Jin, Qianwen Zhang, Chenkai He, Feiyue Zhang, Dalian University of Technology, China

3rd place - "Underactuated Parallel Robotic Hand with Linear Trajectory Based on the Watt Linkage Mechanism"

Yinkai Dong, Southern University of Science and Technology, China

2022 Winners (Link to All Finalists)

Graduate Category

First Place - "A Lightweight Robotic Knee Prosthesis with Torque-Sensitive Nonlinear Elastic Actuation"

 Minh Quang Tran, University of Utah, USA

Second Place - "A Novel Tip-Stiffness Improved Compliant Continuum Robot Based on Anti-Buckling Universal Joints"

Shiyao Li, Jiaxiang Zhu, Tinghao Liu, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Third Place - " The VEMO Antenna: A Self-deploying, Self-stabilizing, Origami-based Antenna"

Hunter Pruett, Nathan Coleman, Antonio Rubio, Brigham Young University, USA

Undergraduate Category

1st place - "A compliant Locking and Unlocking Mechanism for Launch Vehicle Applications"

 Shaojie Zhou,Huiwen Zhao, Guining Yu, Jiawen Wang, Feiyang Han, Dalian University of Technology, China

2nd place - "A 4-Bar for a Hexapedal Walker"

Joe Sommer and Joshua Hernandez, University of Notre Dame, USA

3rd place - "Cable-driven reconfigurable robot based on tensegrity structures"

Yi Zhang, Kaiwen Hu, Zhiwei Wang, Qingyu Bu, and Yuanqing Dong, Tianjin University, China

2021 Winners (Link to All Finalists)

Graduate Category

First Place - "An In-situ Collaborative Robot for Manufacturing in Confined Spaces"

Andrew L. Orekhov, Garrison L. H. Johnston, Colette Abah, Vanderbilt University

Second Place - "A High Precision Mirror Symmetric XY Positioner"

Jiaxiang Zhu, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Third Place - "A Modular, Open-Source Continuum Manipulator for Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles"

Justin Sitler, Stevens Institute of Technology

Undergraduate Category

1st place - "Heavy Lift and Carry Exoskeleton"

Hunter Andrieu, Nabra Asgedom, Sarah Bresnahan, Sanghyeon Chang, Bonham Ekleberry, Sara Elnahhas, Nathan Folta, Adam Hinson, John Kuempel, Brita Lyons, Jakob Lyons, Austin Petty, Ben Wardach, Zhao Yu, Virginia Tech

2nd place - "Design, Fabrication, and Verification of a Compliant Ankle Rehabilitation Robot (Flex-ARR)"

Adam Kim, University of Michigan

3rd place - "Coupled Finger Robot"

Jacob Shapiro, University of Notre Dame

2020 Winners (Link to All Finalists)

First Place - "LaparoVision: An In Vivo Laparoscopic Wiper Mechanism," Jacob Sheffield, Amanda Lytle and Jake Hunter, Brigham Young University

Second Place - "A Novel Design for a Cable-Driven Parallel Robot with Full-Circle End-Effector Rotations," Marceau Métillon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Third Place - "Tangent Four-Point Radiation: Liquid-Activated Doubly-Curved Shaping of Layered Flexible Membranes," Hunter Pruett, Brigham Young University

2019 Winners

Graduate Category

1. "A Novel Two Finger Gripper With Adjustable Stiffness", Sri Sadhan Jujjavarapu, University at Buffalo

2. "The OriGuide: An Origami-Inspired Anti-Buckling Support for Medical Robotics”, Brandon Sargent and Jared Butler,  Brigham Young University 

3. "Design, Prototyping and Testing of a Novel Variable Stiffness Compliant Robotic Gripper with Jamming Sheets”, Yuan Gao, Ohio State University

4. "A Novel Variable Geometrical Structure Robot Hand for Linear-parallel Pinching and Self-Adaptive Grasping”,  Chao Luo, Siyun Liu, Hong Fu, and Yixin Wang,  Tsinghua University

Undergraduate Category

1. "Dog Mimicking Mechanism”,  Mostafa Sedky, Sarah El Feqy, Mohamed Abdallah, and Fares Fawzi, Mariam Hegazy,  American University of Cairo

2. "Design and Implementation of Autonomous Amphibious Robot for Water Surface Cleaning”,  Iremanaz Cay, Sinem Sena Ertas, Moustafa Bekir, Merve Bosna, Istanbul Zaim University

3. "Automatic Anti-Stall System for Aircrafts (AASSA) with Release Mechanism”,  Youssef Emad Ahmed and Abdullah Medhat Aly, American University of Cairo

2018 Winners

Graduate Category

First Place - "Novel Pin Array Universal Grippers for Self-adaptation and Dense-contact Grasping”, An Mo, Jingwei Su, Chao Luo and Hong Fu, Tsinghua University

Second Place - ​“A Self-Deployable Self-Stiffening and Retractable Space Structure (SDSR) Mechanism”, Nathan Pehrson and Sam Smith, Brigham Young University

Third Place - ​“Retractable Anti-Buckling Support Tube for Medical Robotics”, Brandon Sargent and Nathan Brown, Brigham Young University​

Undergraduate Category

First Place - ​“VGT ROBOT: A Novel Obstacle-avoiding Pipeline Robot with Variable Geometry Truss”, Wenxiang Zhao, Guojie Hua, Juewei He, Xiongbin, Tsinghua University

Second Place - ​“A Novel Worm-inspired Wall Climbing Robot with Sucker-microspine Composite Structure”, Wenhao Yang, Chengle Yang, Ruijie Zhang, Tsinghua University

Third Place - ​“DSCL Hand: A Novel Linear Parallel and Self-adaptive Underactuated Robot Hand”, Xiaofeng Guo, Yunwei Xiang, Hu Yan, Tsinghua University

2015 Winners

Graduate Category

1st Place (Joint) - "A Meso-Scale Minimally Invasive Surgical Instrument"

Clayton Grames and Jordan Tanner, Brigham Young University

1st Place (Joint): - "Parallel Haptic Master Device for Steerable Needles"

Antonius G.L. (Teun) Hoevenaars, TU Delft

3rd Place - "BR2 manipulator with a soft gripper"

Naveen Kumar Uppalapati and Xiaotian Zhang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Undergraduate Division

1st Place - "Design of a Transformable Wheel Robot with Passive Legs" 

Carter Hurd, Ohio State University

2nd Place - "Mechanism Design of a New Brain Retractor for Robotic Neurosurgery"

Hsuan-Ping Kuan, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

3rd Place - "Development of an Elephant-Trunk Inspired Compliant Robotic Arm"

Yunfang Yang and Yixin Wang, Tsinghua University

2013 Winners

Mechanisms - Graduate Category

1. "Assured Safety Drill with Bi-Stable Bit Retraction Mechanism", Paul Loschak, Hao Pei, and Kecha Xiao, Harvard University

2. "Second Place: Monolithic Two-Degree-of-Freedom Pointing Mechanism (The Hepta-Flex)", Ezekiel G. Merriam, Brigham Young University

3. "A Contact-aided Composite Compliant Mechanism to Clamp and Stretch Soft Objects", Santosh Bhargav, present online from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

​Mechanisms - Undergraduate Category

1. "ORICEPS Origami-Inspired Robotic Forceps", Clayton Grames, Bryce Edmondson, Eric Call, Landen Bowen, Terri Bateman, Brigham Young University

2. "3D-Printable Compliant Control Valve", Weston Baxter, Zach Brough, Mitch Hortin, Joshua Kuhn, Jason Lund, Brigham Young University

3. "Design of a Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle", Jeff Kohler, Ohio State University

​Robotics - Graduate Category

1. "A Quasi-Passive Compliant Stance Control Knee-Ankle-Foot Orthosis", Kamran Shamaei, Yale University 

2. "Development of a Compliant Robotic Arm for Sensitive Manipulation", Nigel Cochran, Worcester polytechnic Institute

3. "A Gyroscopic Actuator for Turning Humanoid Robots", Andrew Boddiford, Charlie Manion, Kwan Suk-Kim, Pradeep Radhakrishnan , University of Texas at Austin

Robotics - Undergraduate Category

1. "Remote Controlled Robotic Firefighting System", Robert Richardson, Christopher Graf, Devon Hall, Matthew Lubaszka, Julianne Rudmann, College of New Jersey

2. "Underactuated End Effector with Novel Linkage System  for Full-Sized Humanoid Robot", Michael Rouleau, Michael Heller, Matthew Frauenthal, Virginia Tech

3. "Small Autonomous Monitoring Platform for Lakes and Estuaries", Moustapha Diab, Uche Ezechi, University of Maryland Eastern Shore