This summer, I had the chance to work on Robogami, a lightweight, foldable and modular robotic arm designed to give autonomy back to wheelchair users with upper-limb deficits. The arm helps with everyday indoor tasks that are otherwise dependent on caregivers, such as reaching objects, opening doors, or handling heavier items.

My contribution was the integration of the robot's and the gripper's control electronics onto the wheelchair. I also selected a suitable battery to power the system, sizing it through calculations, and chose to house it on the wheelchair as part of my electronics design. Throughout, I had to keep the added weight and size to a minimum, both critical for the users, and preserve the arm's full range of motion. I worked through CAD design and 3D printing, going through several prototypes: some failed, and each iteration taught me something new before I reached my final design.

What made this experience so formative was the autonomy I was given. It pushed me to truly apply what I learned in my bachelor, and to go through a complete engineering workflow, from prototyping and testing to writing a technical dossier with commercialization in mind. The highlight was our final demonstration in the lab, with our professor, lab members, and a wheelchair user whose feedback was incredibly valuable. They were able to handle the arm themselves and found it light and precise at gripping. They also noted that the integration of the electronics onto the wheelchair was designed so that the user needs no tools and can operate everything entirely on their own, which is exactly what matters most: genuinely increasing their independence. Seeing their enthusiasm first-hand motivated me even more, and gave me a glimpse of the beauty of academic research: the possibility of contributing to progress that is truly concrete and tangible.