Michael Chen

The QuickLift

Designed and prototyped a mechanical lift attachment for manual wheelchairs, enabling independent seat height adjustment up to 6 inches.

Validated models via structural FEA. Utilizes a scissor jack mechanism with a custom U-shaped steel base plate and an extended ergonomic 3D-printed hand crank.

Automated Robotic Guitar

Led development of an automated robotic guitar integrating plucking, strumming, and muting mechanisms with a solenoid fretting system.

Spearheaded end-to-end design of a bidirectional strumming subsystem and a selective string-muting mechanism to expand dynamic musical range.

Haptics VR Integration

Designed and implemented an acceleration and position tracking system using an Optical Touch Bar to collect high resolution motion data supporting texture simulation accuracy studies.

Integrated simulation results into a virtual reality environment, enhancing tactile realism and enabling researchers to better align electro-adhesive feedback with human perception.

Expressive Helmet System

Investigated human-machine interaction by designing and fabricating a wearable system featuring motion sensors and a front-facing display.

Developed control software to process and translate raw sensor data into real-time visual outputs, demonstrating multidisciplinary system integration.

Starfruut Music

Designed and engineered an interactive web platform and multimedia portfolio for the creative music project "Starfruut".

Focused on dynamic user experience, responsive front-end design, and unique aesthetic integrations to perfectly represent the project's vibrant sonic identity.

3-Axis Soft Metrology Rig

Designing a calibration rig to characterize soft sensors at sub-micron precision, generating paired force-input and signal-output datasets under a $1,500 budget cap.

Benchmarked eight actuator technologies — ball screws, voice coils, and three classes of piezoelectric stage — before landing on a Teensy 4.1 driving Thorlabs servo-actuators via low-level hex commands, paired with a Series Elastic Actuator to filter mechanical noise.