I applied for and was offered a paid internship this summer at DEKA Research & Development!  My sister completed a 6 month co-op at DEKA in 2024 (she's on Dean's right in the picture), and it was an amazing opportunity for her, one that I look forward to replicating this summer.  I look forward to working on a team assisting with manufacturing a medical device.

I visited DEKA Research & Development and learned a bit about their history of medical devices and advances in several medical fields.  My favorite part of the tour was the LUKE 10 degree of freedom prosthetic arm and the iBOT stair-climbing & self-balancing wheelchair.  To the left is a recent video where I got to wear and operate the LUKE Arm.  I was controlling the arm using two IMU's, one on each shoe, basically turning each foot into a joystick to command the direction of the arm and hand.  My right foot was commanding the hand up and down, left and right, while my left foot was commanding the arm inward and outward, and the elbow up/down.  Once the arm is positioned, you can switch to "hand mode" and use the same IMU inputs to control 6 different hand grips, the wrist rotation and wrist flexing.  

My father was heading to Tera-Haute Indiana with the owner of DEKA, Dean Kamen, with the intent of recruiting some interns or graduating seniors to work at DEKA.  As I have been checking out colleges and universities, my father asked if there was an extra seat on Dean's plane, and it worked out that I could go along.  It only took two hours from Dean's hangar in Manchester to arrive at the small airport in Terra Haute, Indiana, but it was a great ride, and we got this picture just after touchdown.  My father got to sit in the co-pilot seat for the flight out, and I talked with engineers and HR staff from DEKA.  Once at Rose-Hulman, I got a quick tour of the engineering labs, and a good sense of what the school is like.  It's a school that I will be considering next year when I start applying, but it is a long drive if you don't have a private jet.