Under the PRIUS (Promotion of Research In Undergraduate Studies) Scheme of IIT Indore, with an aim to get exposure to research, together with my 2 colleagues, I worked on this simple project under the guidance of Dr. I. A. Palani in the Mechatronics and Control Laboratory, IIT Indore.

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Shape Memory Alloys, are a special type of Alloys having two solid phases at different temperature. Austenite and Martensite. Austenite Phase exists at Higher Temperature, whereas, Martensite  Phase exists at a lower temperature. When heated due to phase transformation, Shape memory alloys gain their memorized shape at Martensite Phase forcefully. We manipulated this property of Shape Memory Alloys to forcefully regaining their previous shape during Martensite to Austenite Phase transformation to create Suction in our Customized Suction Grippers which were to be used for generating suction for holding the Hexapod against the wall. We designed a simple yet compact mechanism of creating Suction which provided easy, noiseless actuation.

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In December 2017, We presented a poster of the same project at the 3rd International and 5th National Conference on Machines and Mechanisms, (iNaCoMM 2017), at BARC, Mumbai. Attending this conference in just the sophomore year helped me gaining insights in the research in the fields of robotics, and I got a general overview of current research trends in the field of Robotics. Also, the conference provided me with an opportunity to interact with the brightest minds in the country in the field of Robotics. The Keynote Speeches at the conference and fruitful interactions with the genius minds of the country motivated me to learn and dig further deep in the field of robotics. It was a great experience!

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Later in July 2018, we got published for the same project at RoSMa (International Conference Robotics and Smart Manufacturing, at IIITDM Kancheepuram.