Gokul I
- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

Expertise

Mechanics, Mechanical Design, Sensor Design/Systems, Soft Robotics, Solid Mechanics

Bio

I was born and raised in Queens, NY and finished my B.S.E in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University (2018). After graduating, I started my Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics in the Turner Research Group. My current research focuses on developing inexpensive, biodegradable soil sensors (moisture, pH, nutrient content, etc.) for agricultural applications in order to improve crop yield and efficiency. My research interests include sensor design and fabrication, soft robotic grasping, and sensor-actuator integration for soft systems.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Stress and Strain Sensor Design

Sensors that measure forces and change in dimensions are ubiquitous in our day-to-day life, from use in airplanes and cars to monitor the tires and wings to your phone which uses them to enable technologies like Touch ID. All of these complicated sensors, however, boil down to the same set of sensor design principles and physics. In this project, you will learn about these mechanisms and how sensors transform mechanical signals to electrical ones. The project will culminate in designing your own sensor to measure stress or strain and wiring it up to collect the data.

Soft Robotic Grasping Design Review

Soft robotics has become a very active research area in the last 10 years, primarily because of it's ability to interact with delicate objects, such as humans, animals and soft materials that are otherwise difficult to manipulate with classical rigid robots. In this project, you will explore the world of soft robotic graspers, how they work, and the different design principles at play. This will involve a thorough exploration of recent literature, culminating on writing a paper focusing on a specific type of grasping and its pros and cons. If students wish to, they may also fabricate their own gripper of a chosen type with improved design features.

Coding skills

MATLAB, Python, Java

Languages I know

Tamil, Telugu

Teaching experience

1) I was a teaching fellow for Breakthrough NY during the summer of 2015 and taught rising eighth grade students physics. My responsibilities included developing lesson plans, assignments, and exams. 2) As a graduate student, I was a teaching assistant (TA) for a junior level mechanics course and for a junior level mechanical design course. During my TA-ship, part of my responsibilities included holding recitations for students to reinforce concepts learned in lecture and work through practice problems. 3) Mentored an undergraduate student during the summer

Credentials

Education

Princeton University

BSE Bachelor of Science in Engineering (2018)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

MSE Master of Science in Engineering

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics