Projects

Our project aims to develop a lightweight and modular ankle exoskeleton to assist stroke patients in rehabilitation. Existing solutions are often bulky, difficult to use, and not adaptable to various shoe sizes. Our design integrates a quick-release mechanism to ensure easy, equipping and donning off, improving user experience for patients and physical therapists. The exoskeleton will provide supportive yet lightweight force assistance, enhancing mobility without adding excessive strain.

Anteater Dynamics is a mechanical engineering senior design project team working with the robotics company ROBOTIS to design a low-cost 7-degree-of-freedom robotic arm targeted for personal robotics enthusiasts, capable of collecting data to be used in machine learning. The final product should be under $1000 to fulfill ROBOTIS’ vision of easily accessible robot technology.

Our autonomous exploration rover is designed to navigate unknown environments with precision and efficiency. Equipped with a LiDAR scanner and IMU sensors, the rover creates detailed 3D maps and efficiently plans optimal paths to its destination. Using the RRT* (Rapidly-exploring Random Tree Star) algorithm, it navigates complex terrains while avoiding obstacles in real-time.

The rover’s advanced motion control system ensures smooth and accurate movement. Integrated with ROS (Robot Operating System) and built on the Waveshare JetRacer platform, the system delivers excellent performance and adaptability.

Designed for versatility, this autonomous rover has military applications with a powerful solution for exploring challenging environments safely and efficiently.

Baja SAE is a national colligate competition where teams compete to build and race an off-roading race vehicle. In this project the team is tasked to design, build, and test the powertrain subsystem of the 2025 Baja SAE vehicle. The powertrain subsystem must be capable of AWD by delivering power to all 4 wheels, as well as being lightweight and robust enough to make Anteater Racing a feared competitor. The proposed powertrain design features a fully custom transfer case, outputting to a driveshaft and front differential. Designs must adhere to all rules listed in the Baja SAE rulebook, while maintaining critical safety factors to prevent failures operating in extreme off-road conditions. The vehicle must be built and tested prior to the Arizona competition in May 2025. 

Our project focuses on developing a breathing device that delivers controlled airflow while promoting a positive user experience. Designed with durability and scalability in mind, this device ensures long-term reliability and cost-effective manufacturing, making it both practical and accessible.

We are designing a robot to collect solid samples for small gardens and greenhouses efficiently. Typically, soil sampling is done manually, which often results in inconsistent data. These inconsistencies lead to inaccurate information, limiting farmers' ability to manage their crops effectively. Our robot will collect composite samples made of smaller soil samples using an auger drill to penetrate the ground, extract the samples, and store them in a designated sample box. Additionally, it will feature multi-terrain wheels powered by four DC motors, allowing it to navigate various terrains with ease. This automation improves accuracy, efficiency, and overall crop management.

This is Project Dyno, a senior design project with the objective of designing, building, and prototyping a quadruped robot dog capable of serving as a disaster search and rescue aid in a low-cost package. We were inspired to make a search and rescue robot in response to the recent hurricanes on the East Coast. The needs of a would-be disaster relief robot drive our major objectives: traverse adverse terrain, overcome small obstacles, and support integration with a claw. We were also inspired by Boston Dynamic’s SPOT robot, a quadruped robot that is extremely capable, but also extremely expensive, making it less accessible to local authorities. Dyno will be scaled down in size and capability but still be able to serve in search and rescue operations.

• Background

The Driver Cockpit Subsystem focuses on improving driver comfort, control, and safety in Kilozott, Anteater Electric Racing's newest car for the 2024-2025 season. The project includes the design, CAD modeling, and manufacturing of the seat, headrest, firewall, and steering system.

Testing revealed wrist strain from steering angles, inadequate lateral seat support, and inconsistent pedal resistance. To address these, the team is refining seat bolsters, steering ergonomics, and pedal feedback while ensuring seamless chassis integration.

Key improvements include a redesigned seat with extended bolsters, an optimized steering position, and an adjusted firewall for better helmet clearance. The team will finalize the prototype based on driver feedback and conduct static and dynamic testing before competition.

Current fire sprinkler systems often fall short in effectiveness, adaptability, and efficiency, particularly in modern building designs. These systems occupy considerable space, can cause significant water damage, and typically respond too slowly in the event of a fire. Our project focuses on designing an innovative fire extinguishing system for residential areas that overcomes these challenges. The new system is compact, highly responsive, and utilizes advanced technology to suppress fires before they spread. It integrates seamlessly with mobile devices, allowing users to receive real-time updates and control the system remotely. By prioritizing safety, minimizing property damage, and offering a faster response time, this system aims to revolutionize fire protection in residential settings, ensuring both peace of mind and effective fire suppression.

The NFPA Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge is an engineering competition where teams design a human-input vehicle that makes use of hydraulics and pneumatics as a means of propulsion. This competition is an opportunity for students to sharpen their understanding of the fluid power industry, cultivate team-based engineering skills, and network with industry professionals.

Our project, Zotdraulics, marks UCI's first ever entry into that competition. We have united mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic subsystems with the vision of building a vehicle that can contend for high placement in the competition's sprint and endurance races. We hope to cultivate a deeper understanding of fluid power, make a strong impression for UCI's debut entry, and establish a strong foundation for our future teams to advance.

Current gel imagers on the market are expensive and not customizable leading to increased lab expenses. To address this we will design a gel imager that allows for customizable filter swapping and standard smartphone image capture, saving the sponsor’s lab space and funding. The gel imager will be adjustable to various transilluminator models and smartphones. Additionally, the filter exchanger will be utilize user controlled tuning to swap and stack optical filters for gel electrophoresis analysis.

Background

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) hosts a competition called the e-Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (e-HPVC), where teams of students compete to design and fabricate human powered vehicles. 

Background

The rapid growing field of AI and high-performance computing has led to small-form factor chips (CPUs/TPUs) with exceedingly high heat fluxes. Traditional air cooling struggles to dissipate these thermal loads efficiently. The research from our team at UC Irvine proposes an innovative liquid-vapor phase change cooling plate to address the need for high-performance cold plates that integrate seamlessly with new generation server hardware.

Goal and Objectives

The team seeks to accomplish the following:

Background:

We are designing a mobile rocket launch system that can be transported across all U.S. highways, complying with Department of Transportation regulations in every state. The system consists of two main subsystems: the Transporter, Erector, Launcher (TEL) and the launch vehicle (rocket). The TEL includes a hydraulic erector system capable of lifting the rocket to a full 90 degrees while providing full support with a strong back. The launch vehicle can deliver a minimum 200 lb payload to a 500 km polar orbit (270 Nmi/Polar) and features a reusable first stage designed to land on any surface after launch. The rocket will use existing models of rocket engines and will be powered by liquid propellants. The launch platform will secure the rocket during the initial launch at 100% thrust utilizing a ground drilling mechanism. The entire system can be fully set up within 8 hours of arriving at the launch site. This mobile launch system can be deployed anywhere across America, which eliminates the limitations of being confined to the two current launch sites in Vandenberg, California, and Kodiak, Alaska.

Background:

Our multidisciplinary team is working to design and fabricate a semiconductor chip through the use of a cleanroom and the equipment within it. In addition to development, the team aims to create educational content on semiconductor manufacturing to share knowledge and promote understanding. By combining the expertise of multiple engineering fields, in mechanical, electrical, and computer, we are working together to understand the processes and theories behind devices smaller than a millimeter.

SnapVolt is a student-led project with the ambition to design, test, and prototype a low-voltage distribution box (fuse box) that is compatible across different electric vehicles. Inspired by current vehicles with fuse boxes that are unique to a particular model, our design will allow users to create different combinations of fuses and relays to match their personal vehicle. A priority of this project is to allow simple and tool free assembly and disassembly with snap in components, similar to Lego pieces. Additionally, SnapVolt aims to create a cost effective design with the intention of making the product competitive in the market.

Background 

UAV Forge constitutes a multidisciplinary engineering design team with a specific focus on the comprehensive development cycle of autonomous aerial vehicles, encompassing design, manufacturing, programming, and rigorous testing. The paramount objective of this design endeavor is to adhere to the stipulated constraints, thereby enabling active participation in the SUAS 2024-2025 competition season.

The UCI RoboSub team designs an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Our AUV features autonomous localization, ultrasound detection, and a magnetically actuated appendage for the retrieval of debris off of the seabed. This project fosters innovation in underwater robotics, emphasizing autonomy, precision, and teamwork while addressing real-world maritime and environmental challenges.

Our purpose: 

The purpose of Unmanned Autonomous Submarine team is to create a device that can perform underwater tasks in place of humans. Surveying, exploration, and underwater repair are a only few of many necessary jobs that ensure safe sea travel and to protect marine life. However, extreme ocean conditions and the risk of malfunctioning equipment make these jobs dangerous for humans.

Background:

In high-risk environments, wildfires can occur quickly and without warning. There is a need to monitor these areas, but many are difficult to access and traverse, and there is a limited amount of personnel capable of repeatedly surveying these areas. Therefore, we plan to design a UAV system capable of monitoring and navigating these high-risk locales. In the case of a fire, the UAV will be able to recognize it and take mitigating action, as well as interface with other systems with the data it has received.

Mission Statement:

ZotCart is a fully autonomous golf cart that will be roaming around Ring Road in the near future. This is achieved by designing drive, brake and steer by wire mechanisms to allow for autonomous control of the golf cart, with the ability for a human to take control in case of an emergency. Several sensors such as cameras, radars, and IMUs along with control algorithms will allow for autonomous driving around static obstacles.