I have been doing Undergraduate Research at Dr. Rajaraman's lab since December 2021 and I have been a part of multiple projects that deal with microelectrode arrays (MEA's), fluidic devices, and microfabrication techniques.
Throughout my time at the lab, I have been co-author on a total of four published papers, where my contributions mainly include the design work of the micro-devices, sending those designs to the Formlabs resin printer, going through the microfabrication process with metallization, and then testing. |
Pick & Place Machine
The biggest project I have been working on while in this lab is the Pick and Place machine. The machine is the ACRO system from OpenBuilds which was originally designed to be a 2 degree of freedom CNC laser cutter. When I began this project, I assembled the ACRO system and wired the stepper motors to the drivers on the Smoothieboard v1 5X. I ran into my first speedbump when I was wiring the dual axis Y-motors; I had to do research and see how I was supposed to wire these motors to move at the same time AND in the same direction. I opted to manually "slave" the motors by wiring the ports together, and reversing the polarity of the 2nd Y-motor.
After the base system was set up and wired together, I had to design, iterate, and implement a Z-gantry which was a rack and pinion that moves along the X-axis. The Z-gantry also has a small holder that can hold a motor that attaches to a nozzle and rotates about the Z-axis. These upgrades that I made added 2 degrees of freedom to the already existing system, making the pick & place now having a total of 4 degrees of freedom.
I then implemented a vacuum pump and nozzle and wired them into the Smoothieboard. I then utilized the OpenPnP software to integrate the entire system and be able to control the machines movements as well as its picking and placing abilities.
Images below are sequential from left to right.
After the base system was set up and wired together, I had to design, iterate, and implement a Z-gantry which was a rack and pinion that moves along the X-axis. The Z-gantry also has a small holder that can hold a motor that attaches to a nozzle and rotates about the Z-axis. These upgrades that I made added 2 degrees of freedom to the already existing system, making the pick & place now having a total of 4 degrees of freedom.
I then implemented a vacuum pump and nozzle and wired them into the Smoothieboard. I then utilized the OpenPnP software to integrate the entire system and be able to control the machines movements as well as its picking and placing abilities.
Images below are sequential from left to right.