Robot Turtle

As a research assistant at the University of Delaware, I led the design of a submersible that was designed to fully mimic the biology of sea creatures with 4 legs. The submersible was built with waterproof motors and isolated internal electronics. The design was also intended to be able to mimic other sea creatures (like a mosasaur), so the entire robot was made to be modular and have limbs swapped out for those that resembled other animals.

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The limbs on this particular model of a turtle were made out of silicon that was poured into a 3D printed mold. There was a printed rod constrained in the mold (where the edge was isolated from the pouring chamber) to offer a skeletal-like stability to the limbs, as well as provide a mounting attachment to the rest of the body.​​