John Simon McElroy - ME in Mechanical Engineering

My name is John Simon McElroy, and I am entering into my first year of an ME in Mechanical Engineering in UCD. I was awarded a Naughton Fellowship to spend 10 weeks working on a research project at the University of Notre Dame over the summer of 2023.

When applying to the program there were plenty of projects which related to material I had previously covered in UCD but to me, those with a focus on robotics were the most interesting. That is why I was so pleased to be offered a place in the MiNiRo (Minimalist Naturally inspired Robotics) Lab under the supervision of Dr. Yasemin Ozkan Aydin. The aim of this lab is to observe the methods by which different challenges are solved in nature, and to design robots to mimic these solutions.

My project title was “Sea Turtle Robot Locomotion in Complex Environments”. The goal was to use the body morphology and motion gait (the pattern of moving their limbs, i.e., walking or running for humans) of Sea Turtles to design a robot that could overcome more difficult to pass surfaces for typical robot designs. These included sand, both smooth and bumpy, steps, inclines and uneven rocky terrain. My work consisted mostly of writing the software for the robot which combined the motion and sensing capabilities of the robot to allow it to traverse such environments.

I learned many new skills and further developed even more thanks to the help and support shown to me by Nnamdi Chikere, an electrical engineering graduate student with whom I worked on the project, and the rest of the members of the lab. In our weekly lab meetings, I received great advice thanks to their years of experience in the field of robotics and got the chance to see the development process for even more advanced projects.

While there I got the opportunity to take part in different activities and attend workshops and talks on many topics to do with future career opportunities and skills. These also allowed the other Naughton fellows and I to meet and get to know the other undergraduate researchers who had come from around the world.

Towards the end of the program, I got the chance to present my work to the other researchers and their professors and colleagues at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium which was a great experience but equally exciting was the chance to see all the other projects that had been carried out which ranged from studying new ways to fight cancer to a project that would launch on a high altitude balloon with NASA. As a result of my work, I will be named as an equal contributor on research papers which will result from tests carried out using the robot. This accomplishment fills me with pride and is a great opportunity for an undergraduate.

I cannot put into words how highly I recommend applying to this program. It was an incredible experience which allowed me to learn, establish connections with people I never would’ve had access to otherwise, make great friendships with other students from all over Ireland and even the world and have the most incredible memories. It has also opened up many new possibilities for my career and given me great experience working on a large project such as this. I want to thank UCD for selecting me and allowing me the chance to represent the university. I also would like to thank the Naughton Foundation for their incredible generosity and the University of Notre Dame for enabling this fantastic program.