Physical Sensors & Devices

Space exploration often costs multiple millions of dollars for each exploratory mission to get a single piece of equipment into orbit. These missions usually return information in the form of scans or images or samples in the form of extracted material. This work proposes the manufacture and deployment of thousands of imaging capable solar sails systems with 10 gram payloads. Power generation is enabled through solar panels and batteries. Navigation is enabled through one square meter solar sails maneuvered by inchworm motors. Communications are enabled by laser transmitters and SPAD...

Tactile haptics and sensing technology plays a crucial role in the AR/VR and medical robotics fields by providing touch input and feedback for human-computer interactions. However, many existing haptics technologies offer limited feedback— only in one direction (normal stress), very coarse resolution, and only on/off control. These limitations hinder the accurate recreation of touch sensations, particularly on sensitive areas like fingertips, due to restricted degrees of freedom and inadequate stress density. This device addresses these issues by offering tactile haptics and sensing with...

It has been well established that the bone age of a child can be estimated by using X-ray, CT, MRI, and other large medical imaging devices. While other less expensive and non-radioactive methodology use ultrasonography, these devices are bulky and often require trained technicians to use properly. This project introduces a low-cost, miniaturized device for bone age assessments by microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technologies in the form of a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT). By integrating Aluminum nitride (AlN) into our 5 mm pMUT, we are capable of...