Teaching Experience
Introduction to Mechatronics (ME 333)
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. Winter 2021
Professor: Nick Marchuk
Short Lecture: PI Controllers (2m)
This class introduced students to the basics of mechatronics, such as the building and debugging of electromechanical circuits. Major responsibilities included assisting students in understanding the material and debugging their hardware and software. Other responsibilities included creating two short lecture videos and grading homework.
Quotes from student evaluations:
- “I would like to shout out the TAs Dan and Petras. They were excellent! Best TAs I have seen”
- “This was definitely a very useful class, and the TAs and Prof. Marchuk were very helpful in debugging code and helping to understand concepts”
- “The teaching team is wonderful!!”
Publications and Scholarly Work
(2021) Paper: ReactiveBuild: Environment-Adaptive Self-Assembly of Amorphous Structures
Winner: Best Student Paper
2021 International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS)
Link to demonstration video (3m)
Link to talk video (22m)
Abstract: ReactiveBuild is an algorithm that enables swarms of robots to build a variety of robust, environment-adaptive structures without pre-planning. Robots form structures by climbing their peers until either reaching a point closest to a goal location or until a neighboring robot recruits it for structural reinforcement. This contrasts with typical approaches to robotic self-assembly which generally seek to form some a priori shape. This paper demonstrates a simulated swarm of FireAnt3D robots using ReactiveBuild to form towers, chains, cantilevers, and bridges in three-dimensional environments.
(2020) Paper: FireAnt3D: a 3D self-climbing robot towards non-latticed robotic self-assembly
2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (pp. 3340-3347)
Link to demonstration video (1m)
Link to presentation video (14m)
Abstract: Robotic self-assembly allows robots to join to form useful, on-demand structures. Unfortunately, the methods employed by most self-assembling robotic swarms compromise this promise of adaptability through their use of fixed docking locations, which impair a swarm’s ability to handle imperfections in the structural lattice resulting from load deflection or imperfect robot manufacture; these concerns worsen as swarm size increases. Inspired by the amorphous structures built by cells and social insects, FireAnt3D uses a novel docking mechanism, the 3D continuous dock, to attach to like robots regardless of alignment. FireAnt3D demonstrates the use of the 3D continuous docks, as well as how a robot can use such docks to connect to like robots and locomote over arbitrary 3D arrangements of its peers. The research outlined in this paper presents a profoundly different approach to docking and locomotion during self-assembly and addresses longstanding challenges in the field of robotic self-assembly.
(2019) Proposed Dissertation: Large-Scale Robotic Self-Assembly Using Alignment-Agnostic Docking
The creation of useful structures using robotic self-assembly is a yet-unattained goal in the field of swarm robotics. Using a novel orientation-agnostic attachment mechanism, I will design and build a swarm of robots capable of building a bridge by executing simple individual behaviors.
(2019) Patent: Method and System for Docking Robotic Components
This patent, filed by Northwestern INVO, covers an orientation-agnostic docking mechanism as well as a robotic system capable of using such a mechanism to locomote.
(2018) Paper: FireAnt: A Modular Robot with Full-Body Continuous Docks
2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (pp. 6812-6817)
Link to demonstration video (3m)
Link to robot assembly video (8s)
Abstract: Nature offers many examples of organisms coming together to form self-assembling structures. The attachment methods these organisms employ allow them to grab onto others’ bodies, often without need for specific alignment or orientation, an ability absent from most existing robotic self-assembling structures, which require complicated sensing and specific alignment. This paper presents FireAnt, a modular 2D robot that demonstrates full-body continuous docks, an attachment mechanism able to attach anywhere onto other robots at any orientation, eliminating the need for alignment mechanisms and complex sensors. Such docks allow FireAnt to climb over copies of itself, something critical to self-assembling structures. This paper first discusses the design of FireAnt before presenting test results that show the strength and reliability of the continuous docks and demonstrate FireAnt’s ability to traverse an environment consisting of inert FireAnt robots. The work presented in this paper provides a docking mechanism that can minimize the mechanical complexity of modular robots and will allow the creation of swarms of rigid and adaptable self-assembling structures.
(2012) Senior Capstone Project: Robotic Testing of a Touchscreen Device
Designed a robotic test cell to perform gestures on a touch screen device using force feedback to mimic the pressure applied by a human user.
(2012) Independent Study: Predicting Fiber Content by Mass in a Composite Material
Independent research performed at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology under Dr. Richard Onyancha as part of the Independent Project/Research Opportunities Program. Performed experiments to determine best methods for extracting excess epoxy from layups of carbon fiber and fiberglass samples. Presented at the end of quarter symposium.
(2012) Competition Design Report: Rose-Hulman Human Powered Vehicle Team: Carηot Cycle
Design report submitted to the 2012 ASME Human Powered vehicle competition. Key vehicle innovations included a single-chain drivetrain, as well as a regenerative braking system. The report won first place out of 32 at the east coast competition, and third place out of 17 at the west coast competition.
(2011) Competition Design Report: Rose-Hulman Human Powered Vehicle Team: Helios
Design report submitted to the 2011 ASME Human Powered vehicle competition. Key vehicle innovations included a flexible axle between the two drive chains to eliminate torque steer. The report won second place out of 19 at the east coast competition, and first place out of 12 at the west coast competition.
(2010) Independent Study: Flow Visualization of an Airzooka Blast
Independent research performed at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology under Dr. Michael Moorhead. Visualized the flow out of an air vortex cannon using smoke and a laser sheet. Presented at an end-of-quarter poster presentation.
(2010) Competition Design Report: Rose-Hulman Human Powered Vehicle Team: Ragnarök
Design report submitted to the 2010 ASME Human Powered vehicle competition. Key vehicle innovations included a tilting tricycle mechanism to allow for unassisted starts and stops. The report won first place out of 13 at the east coast competition, and first place out of 15 at the west coast competition.