Previous ASME Award Winner
Recent Departmental Runner Up Awards
Capstone Design Projects
Animal Care Processing Project (ACCP)
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 42
The Animal Care Processing Project (ACCP) is sponsored by Dr. Keith Jenné, who has served as the Executive Director of the UC San Diego Animal Care Program and Campus Veterinarian since April 2023. The primary objective of this project is to automate the dumping procedure during the pre-sanitization process of animal care cages within the Centralized Research Service Facility at UC San Diego, using a grab-dump-load integrated automation machine to reduce health hazards for facility workers.
Sample Throughput Optimization for Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 15
Team Members
Ethan Greene
Jamie Lee
Saul Rios
Leo Serbinov
Vedanth Talla
Brayden Wong
The PISCES Lab, as part of UC San Diego's Center for Energy Research, performs Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) on the wall materials of nuclear fusion reactors with the goal of improving the performance and longevity of these materials. The PISCES Lab's current TDS system has low sample throughput as the chamber must be opened to exchange samples. This project’s motivation was to develop a sample loading system that increases the number of samples that can be tested in a single day.
ShockE Frame Stiffness Test Fixture
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 19
Team 19 was tasked with building a test bed that was able to measure the torsional and bending stiffness of several existing bike frames. The objective of this test bed is to generate accurate stiffness data to serve as a benchmark for the design of the ShockE motorcycle frame. Having such data helps in further stages of the bike design where the company can have target stiffness and deflection values.
Resistive Torque Measurement Apparatus
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 24
Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and UC San Diego, this project developed the Resistive Torque Measurement Apparatus (RTMA) to support research on robotic movement through granular media. The RTMA measures resistive torque on a rotating intruder submerged in granular media with varying conditions. Designed for field use, it enables efficient data collection to inform the design of bio-inspired robots navigating complex granular environments.
Automating the Cutting Process Hi-Tech Honeycomb
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 38
Team Members
Rowan Barg
Micah Borg
Elijah Matthews
Daniel Sun
Automated metallic Honeycomb processing machine; with a custom clamping and fixture assembly mounted to precise, motorized translation and rotation stages. The two degrees of freedom provided by these stages allow for rapid, automated positioning of the stock beneath a cutting tool.
Acoustic Modem Integration onto Wave Glider USV
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 16
Our team was tasked with designing and manufacturing a pressure vessel (PV) to house ROAM electronics for enhanced communication on the NIWC Pacific Wave Glider USVs. This PV integrates with the existing (PUMS) sensor system. Key design elements include the internal mounting of electronics, a pressure vessel enclosure, a hydrodynamic dome, external mounting connections to attach the PV to the tow cable, and mounts for two transducer components for acoustic communication.
SomnoStay - A Novel Oral Appliance for Obstructive Sleep Apnea
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 7
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is when the collapse of the tongue blocks the upper airway during sleep. It can cause oxygen deprivation, disrupted sleep, and
NIWC PAC UAS Launch and Recovery
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 26
Team Members
Parker Amano
Gregory Garner
Gabriel Lepage
Bhodivista Yohn
This project developed four subsystems for NIWC PAC to support modular, low-cost drone platforms: a rugged transport case, a compact ground control station, a pneumatic fixed-wing launcher, and a recovery net. Three prototypes were built; the recovery net was delivered as a design package. These systems enhance drone deployment, control, and recovery, aligning with NIWC’s shift toward agile, unmanned solutions and away from costly, proprietary technologies.
Outdoor Low Power Measurement Equipment Enclosure (ENTS Enclosure)
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 11
Team Members
Fayza Elshafie
David Fisher
Michael Gonzalez
Benny La
Elliot Snyder
UCSC and UCSD researchers developed the Environmentally NeTworked Sensor (ENTS) to make environmental research more versatile and cost-efficient. The need for a low-cost, waterproof, and reproducible enclosure to house the ENTS node during deployment prompted Ph.D student Steve Taylor to sponsor an MAE 156 project. A PVC and 3D printed enclosure were developed. With components to increase waterproofing, secure the node, and allow for ENTS functionality, both designs met the project requirements.
Manual In-Pipe Robot Surrogate for Autonomy Development
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 18
Our PipeRider robot surrogate is a manually controlled in-pipe robot. The robot is pushed through a ten inch diameter pipe, and through elbows and t sections using a swappable four bar fixture design and motorized arm. Omni-wheels in combination with a linear slider mechanism allow for robot rotation in the pipe. This setup allows for controlled experimentation and data collection to support the development of autonomous navigation and corrosion detection algorithms for engineers at NIWC PAC.
Wave Energy Converter
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 25
UCSD's Environmental Fluid Dynamics Lab is working to develop a small scale wave energy converter. The objective of this project was to research, fabricate, test, and analyze a more robust buoy-heave plate system, equipped with sensors to collect relevant data such as surface position, pressure, and geographical location in order for the sponsors to validate their current computer model of the system.
DM Consulting - Dry Dock Block
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 8
This project develops an automated real time alignment indicator that guides dockmasters to achieving a half inch tolerance laterally when docking a ship. A rotating contact beam sensor mounts to dry dock blocks and deploys under the floating ship. Inclinometers on both beams measure angular deflection from contact with keel, a microcontroller computes the ship’s lateral offset and displays the offset on a screen. The offset is further wirelessly transmitted to handheld devices
LightLok - Burn Prevention
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 13
In the operating room, a light cord sends light into a surgical instrument but its tip reaches dangerous temperatures and is a hazard. LightLok is a single-use attachment for lowering the surface temperature of the light cord tip that prevents burns from occurring. LightLok consists of a cap with a fused silica lens hinged to a base clamp that efficiently diverges light and automatically closes when the light cord is not in use.
Solar Wind Tunnel
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 32
Team Members
Benjamin Marsden
David Bori
Max Gonsalves
Rachel Gillespie
Solar wind tunnel that demonstrates the bow shock effect produced by the solar winds colliding with Earth’s magnetic field. The project demonstrates a fluid dynamics phenomenon in space to inspire a future generation of engineers and scientists.
StableWind Technologies
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 17
Team Members
Wills Moore
Christopher Mansfield-Reid
Trevor Marshall
Christopher Cordano
Jintong Han
Stable Wind Technologies developed a self-stabilizing platform for floating offshore wind turbines that actively adjusts buoyancy in real time to counteract wind-induced tilt. This system functions as a cost-effective, prototypical testbed and research tool to enable the development of control schemes for at-scale floating platforms. Over 15 weeks, our team successfully designed, manufactured, and tested our system in both static and active environmental conditions.
GA Autoloader Recovery Fusion
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 9
The Autoloader system is a mechanical staging to automate fueling and dispensation of inertial fusion energy target capsules. From a batch of IFE target shells, it stages them to be doped with liquid hydrogen fuel and be individually conveyed towards a reactor at a cycle rate of 0.25 Hz.
Halo Helmet Platform
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 9
Protective helmets safeguard the head in high-impact sports but offer limited neck and spinal protection, increasing injury risk in high-speed crashes. As extreme sports grow, better safety solutions are needed.
This project introduces a helmet-integrated roll cage that redistributes impact forces away from the head and neck. Anchored to the upper body via a harness, the system disperses forces more effectively, reducing the risk of traumatic brain and spinal injuries.
This project introduces a helmet-integrated roll cage that redistributes impact forces away from the head and neck. Anchored to the upper body via a harness, the system disperses forces more effectively, reducing the risk of traumatic brain and spinal injuries.
Regenerative Trailer Braking System
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 3
With the Regenerative Trailer Braking System, we are able to make use of braking energy and reduce the wear on a vehicle's brakes by activating regenerative braking on a trailer as it is being hauled. This allows for the driver to capture the otherwise lost braking energy to charge a portable battery mounted on the trailer for use in charging other devices, or propelling the trailer using the electric motor instead of gasoline.
Device to Assess Nitric Oxide at PoC
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 20
Team Members
Fernando Rico
Li-Pin Chang
Armaan Goklani
Our team is developing a portable urine analysis device to support ongoing clinical research led by our sponsor, Dr. Stephen Bickler, who is studying the relationship between cardiovascular function and nitric oxide levels in urban areas of Mozambique. The primary goal of the study is to understand why cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as hypertension, which are rare in underdeveloped regions, increase in prevalence in urban environments.
Hi Tech Honeycomb Automation
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 10
Developed in collaboration with Hi Tech Honeycomb, this project automates the tack welding of aerospace honeycomb rings—a process currently done manually that is slow, repetitive, and physically demanding. Our modular multi-tip resistance welding system improves speed, consistency, and operator comfort without compromising critical weld quality. With custom welding heads, an alignment table, and foot-pedal actuation, we validated the concept through a dual-tip prototype ready for automation.
OceanWell Multistage Water Filtration System
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 10
The purpose of this project is to create a device that can be used by engineers at OceanWell to test multiple unique combinations of filters ranging from 5 to 500 microns for different types of source water.
Triton-Ai Racquet Ball Launcher Magazine and Control
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 34
Our team developed a system with three main components to launch racquet balls for the International Roboboat Competition: a launcher, electronics box, and camera. The launcher features over 40 unique 3D-printed parts. The electronics include a brushed DC motor, servo, hall effect sensor, encoder, H-bridge, and a servo power distribution board on a custom perf board. Software integrates with an existing Jetson Nano NX and an OAK-D LR camera for control and targeting.
Venous Ulcer Wound Compression Garment
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 27
Venous stasis ulcers are chronic open wounds that form due to poor blood circulation on the lower leg and can take months, or even years, to heal. Through combining leg compression and negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), Dr. Caesar Anderson of the UC San Diego Wound Healing Center has seen high therapeutic success. The project goal was to design a device that accurately compresses the leg to a prescribed pressure and allows for the integration of NPWT.
SE Scribing Solar Panels
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 11
GAUSS (Gantry for Automated Ultrathin Solar Scribing) is a system designed to enhance the Solar Energy Innovation Laboratory's (SOLEIL) ability to manufacture perovskite solar cells in-house. Scribing is critical for forming electrical connections and boosting module efficiency. GAUSS offers a low-cost mechanical alternative to laser scribing, using a CNC gantry with force-feedback control to selectively scribe through each layer of a perovskite cell.
Automated Graphene Transfer
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 14
This project, sponsored by Professor Oscar Vazquez-Mena of the NanoEngineering department, aimed to expedite the graphene transfer process by utilizing a fully autonomous tank system with feedback from a conductivity probe.
Antibiofouling System for Moored Marine Instruments
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 23
Biofouling, which is the accumulation of marine organisms on submerged surfaces, compromises the accuracy of oceanographic sensors like CTDs. To address this, our project developed a low-power, chemical-free antifouling system that combines mechanical vibration and a rotating brush within a protective guard to deter early-stage biofilm formation. This environmentally friendly solution enhances sensor reliability during extended ocean deployments.
Heating Stage for Nanomaterials
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 28
Team Members
Duy Cao
Gautam Ganesh
Alice Khalil
Johnny Mendoza
The Sailor Lab tasked the MAE 156B team with redeveloping a compact, intuitive heating stage that could enable fast, reliable recovery from silicon quantum dot blinking and support accurate, repeatable optical measurements. The stage design was composed of three main components: a heating and cooling element, a chamber to house the sample and heater, and a linear X-Y Positioning Stage to control and position the spectrometer in order to took readings of silicon quantum dot samples.
UCSD Med Absorbable Springs
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 12
Craniosynostosis is a condition in which an infant’s skull sutures fuse prematurely, restricting brain growth and causing developmental complications. A current treatment is spring-assisted cranioplasty which involves implanting metal springs to gradually reshape the skull. However, these springs require a second surgery for removal, increasing risks and medical costs for patients. Our project aims to develop bioabsorbable cranial springs that eliminate the need for an additional procedure.
Material Transfer Cleaning
2024-2025 - Winter
Team: 2
Genentech’s manual wipe-down process for disinfecting barrels is time-consuming and ergonomically challenging. This project automates this with a semi-autonomous system for easy loading and unloading. Barrels move via an omnidirectional ball conveyor, where a misting system loosens debris before top, side, and bottom brushes ensure thorough cleaning. Operators control each cleaning substation via a control panel, enhancing efficiency, consistency, and ergonomics within Genentech’s workflow.
MRI Stereo
2024-2025 - Spring
Team: 5
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) procedures can be uncomfortable due to the long duration and loud volume during operation. The project objective was to redesign Sound Imaging’s MRI headphones to improve audibility and enhance passive noise dampening. Using pneumatic sound transmission, non-ferrous, FDA-approved materials, the final design reached 116.6 dB at max volume while meeting MRI safety standards, thus improving both patient experience and SoundImaging’s current product performance.
