Monday 03JUN2024:

Monday was focused on building the Centimani surgery robot with a focus on a specific problem. The problem we wished to solve is that, after insertion, the motors and arms experienced difficulties in rising back to their original position due to the effects of gravity. In order to counteract these effects, the springs were assembled to help pull the arms and motors back towards their original positions. These springs were placed above the motors and connected to the arms using magnets. After an arm is lowered for Nanoelectric Thread (NET) insertion, the tension of the inner spring will increase as the cord is extended. The tension will attempt to decrease by pulling the cord towards the spring along with the arm it’s attached to. This would be the mechanism that would help bring the arm and motor back towards their original position. It took some all of my working hours and I was tired afterwards. But I was satisfied with my work, as I love assembling things.

Tuesday 04JUN2024:

Tuesday had me working on another portion of the project entirely, the tungsten wires themselves. Specifically, my primary task was to inspect and categorize tungsten wires based on their viability for use with the Centimani. The wires will be used by the Centimani as shuttles to prevent the flexible Nanoelectric Threads from bending when insertion takes place. However, due to the cost of materials and equipment as well as the level of precision required to achieve the desired shape, which is measured in microns, the wires are difficult to manufacture because of cost and fragility. To make sure that the wires are suitable for use as shuttles in the Centimani,  Careful  inspection under a microscope must be performed to identify any bends or other abnormalities that might reduce the viability of the wires. It was very delicate work and took me a very long time. I didn’t want to damage any of the wires that could be used, so I went slowly. However, this meant I couldn’t get very far and only identified a few wires by the end of the day

Wednesday 05JUN2024:

The focus on Wednesday was for me to learn about the laser used to shape the tips of the tungsten wires we plan on using for the Centimani. The laser model was a Clark-MXR Femtosecond laser, which was able to cut out the tips with micron levels of precision. The morning was spent training on how to set up, use, and shut down the machine. After the overview on how to run the machine, I joined in on one of the project meetings so that I could be more involved in the project as a whole. The rest of the day was spent growing accustomed to the laser and its programs by setting up a run for a set of tungsten wires.

Thursday 06JUN2024:

Thursday was a continuation of yesterday’s lessons on the manufacturing of tungsten wires.  It started with inspecting the previously made wires under the digital microscope, followed by preparing 4 tungsten wire on 4 separate glass slides for cutting in the laser. This meant marking points on the slide with specific intervals as a guide for where we would glue the wire to keep it in place while the tips are cut. The day ended after attempting to repeat the laser cutting process from yesterday.

Friday 07JUN2024:

Today was supposed to be a continuation yesterday. Unfortunately, the laser had been booked prior beforehand. This left me with not enough time to do a laser run, which was unfortunate. So instead, I was tasked with continuing the inspection I started on Tuesday. I ended up doing this for the rest of the day and I managed to finish with time to spare. But with no other tasks that I could do at the moment, I was told that I could head home early.

The week started where I felt I wasn’t making progress since I wasn’t producing results. But I’m realizing that having results this early on in the internship might be a little over ambitious. Knowing this, I’ve started to relax a bit, which has ironically helped in making progress with what I’m learning.

[End of post for week 2]