Mechanical and Simulation Design for Handheld Force Control System

This project offers opportunities for credit-based undergraduate research, independent study, or volunteer research. Students from Mechanical Engineering related areas are encouraged to apply.

This project focuses on the simulation-based design of a handheld force-controlled system for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) probe. OCT is a high-resolution imaging technique that can visualize tissue microstructures. For bio tissue imaging, Stable contact force and hand-motion compensation between the imaging probe and the bio tissue surface is important because excessive or inconsistent pressure can deform tissue, reduce image reliability, and introduce measurement variability.

We are looking for motivated undergraduate students, especially students with mechanical design, CAD and simulation experience, to help develop a preliminary force-control design for a handheld OCT probe. At the current stage, the main goal is not hardware fabrication, but to create mechanical simulations. The proposed system may include a handheld probe housing, OCT probe holder, small linear actuator or sliding mechanism, force sensor/load cell, and feedback-control concept. 

Students will work closely with graduate researchers to model the mechanical structure, simulate force response, evaluate design feasibility, and generate figures or results for proposal development. And this project related to future potential patent and high-level journal paper.

Responsibilities may include:

• Creating a conceptual CAD model of the force control handheld OCT probe system 
• Designing the mechanical layout for the probe holder, force sensor, and motion mechanism 
• Simulating probe-tissue contact force under different design conditions
• Evaluating how mechanical stiffness, actuator motion, and sensor placement affect force stability
• Preparing simulation figures, diagrams, and design summaries for a research proposal