The team continued to make meaningful progress this week as our work shifted further from preliminary investigation into detailed design development and prototyping efforts. Building on insights from recent discussions with Johnson & Johnson, we advanced several parallel tracks of the project that will inform both our near-term deliverables and long-term system integration.

One of the major developments this week was the construction of a full-scale mechanical prototype of the wire insertion assembly. Creating this physical model allowed us to evaluate clearances, motions, and potential points of interference within the system. In parallel, we completed a comprehensive CAD assembly of the prototype, which provided additional clarity on areas of concern and highlighted design limitations that might not be immediately evident from physical inspection alone. Together, these efforts strengthened our understanding of the assembly’s mechanical requirements and constraints.

We also made notable progress in the software and sensing components of the project. Using the latest image set provided by J&J, the team enhanced the performance of our computer vision pipeline for detecting copper holes. These preliminary results helped us refine our approach and prepare for the transition from MATLAB to an OpenCV-based implementation. Alongside this work, we conducted an evaluation of several potential cameras, comparing them across relevant performance criteria to determine which option will best support the vision verification workflow. This analysis informed the initial concept design for the vision verification box, which will house and align the sensing components in future iterations.

In addition to these technical advances, the team began planning for the next stages of procurement and assembly. We identified the remaining components needed to complete the manual assembly of the full-scale prototype and will incorporate final camera dimensions into the verification box design once a selection is made. These steps help ensure that mechanical and sensing subsystems evolve cohesively as development progresses.

Looking ahead, the focus for next week will be on fine-tuning the computer vision algorithm, initiating the software transition to OpenCV, finalizing camera selection, and acquiring the parts necessary to complete the prototype. Coordination efforts will also continue, including arranging transport of materials from Jacksonville to Gainesville and confirming dates for the next SLDR site visit.

Overall, it was a productive and technically rich week for the team. The progress made in both mechanical prototyping and vision system development positions us well for continued advancement in the coming weeks.


Due to delays with travel arrangements, we gave our PDR during our regularly scheduled liaison meeting time and it was a success and our liaisons gave us some great feedback we hope to take for the SLDR coming up this week!

This week marked steady progress as we continued developing both the mechanical and computer vision components of our wire insertion system. During Prototype Inspection Day, we presented our current design to professors and industry professionals. The feedback we received was constructive and helped us identify areas to refine as we move forward.

On the mechanical side, we updated the cooking holder CAD model and began making parallel progress on the camera mount fixture. We are also working on scaling down the assembly, with particular attention on finalizing the lumen holder and feeder wire clamps, which will play an important role in stability and accuracy.

Earlier in the week, we reviewed our computer vision strategy as a team. The approach is moving in a good direction, and we are preparing updates to share in our next progress review on Friday.

Plans for Next Week

• Print and test the first version of the camera mount fixture, then make adjustments as needed.
• Continue building out our computer vision codebase and improving detection performance.
• Begin integrating components into the full-scale wire insertion model to transition from individual prototypes to a unified system.
• Order the correct camera hardware so that future testing can be performed under realistic operating conditions.

Open Items for Liaison Engineer(s)

• Finalize outstanding PDR documentation and details.

Project Status: On Schedule

We are maintaining steady momentum and remain on track with our planned development timeline. More updates will follow next week as we begin initial integration and testing.

Here is our team during our PID presentation:

Team CORBOTICS has continued to focus on design for fixtures, integration of subsystems, and preparation for testing in anticipation of Prototype Inspection Day. During this week, the team worked to improve the reliability and repeatability of our fixtures, verify our process flow, and synchronize efforts between the mechanical, computer vision, and automation subteams.

Corrections were made to the lumen holder fixture that positions and secures the catheter lumen during automated assembly, based on feedback from our liaison at Johnson & Johnson’s Biosense Webster division. The fixture’s wall height was increased to provide additional lateral support and further prevent misalignment during testing. The fixture’s reliability and repeatability were the target mechanical properties, as these are necessary for a successful automation process.

Mid-week, some team members made a field trip to a robotics team in Lakeland to learn more about their automation setup. They were able to experiment with parts, test various mechanical interfaces, and brainstorm potential design solutions that could work with our system. Additionally, they were able to return with some spare parts and material that they were able to salvage and will be used in our prototype build. The team expects this component to push progress forward leading up to Prototype Inspection Day.

For members who were unable to attend the trip in person, those on campus followed up by discussing and sharing photos and notes from the team’s time at the other robotics team. The team’s general knowledge of the potential design elements to make a design simpler or how to re-purpose existing mechanisms has increased.

Our cooking fixture and holding fixture have been modified according to the finalized Process Flow Chart, which details every step of the manual assembly of the catheter. This visual reference has proven useful for determining where the team needs to automate steps and integrating all of the subsystems.

The computer vision subteam has continued to make progress on detection and labeling tools using OpenCV. We have been able to make these corrections to further optimize OpenCV for our fixture changes.

Team CORBOTICS is working toward tightly synchronizing the mechanical fixtures, computer vision tools, and control systems as a complete automation process. The next steps in our preparation are system testing and finalizing our design documentation before inspection.

Given what we learned from the experts at J&J last week, we’ve adjusted the fundamental goal of our concepts and developed our first version of a holding fixture. We learned exactly what features on the catheter the technicians look for during quality checks, so we incorporated space for them in our design.

Compared to a couple weeks ago, many of the features we planned for wire insertion were removed or altered to better address the problem. We brought the updated concepts to life through animation. As seen below, it’s quite a difference; simpler is better!

To keep track of what we’re automating, we created a flowchart mapping the entire assembly process from start to finish. This way, we can highlight the exact steps our mechanism performs that are currently done by a human. Collaboration with the liaison is vital for understanding the work to be done, since this visual aid was based on the provided documentation.

We’ve also begun diving into the software side by testing out computer vision tools like OpenCV, and exploring how the libraries work with shape detection and image labeling.

Next week, we’re starting on the design, testing, and evaluation of our other fixtures in the system. In fact, some are being 3D printed right now… Stay tuned to see how they turn out!

The team made a pivotal transition this week from our high-level research into narrowing the scope and moving towards a specific direction of our design. Following our visit to the Johnson & Johnson site last week, we started to make the transition to concrete deliverables in a multitude of different project avenues.

We updated the Project Plan document to include our final project scope and implementation details so that the documentation would be on par with our enhanced understanding of the catheter assembly process and short-term design goals.

One of the major technical developments this week was fabricating a first iteration of a fixture to cook the loop tip. As discussed in last week’s blog, the creation of this fixture prototype will be pivotal to successfully automating the most manual and fragile portion of the catheter manufacture. We also continued to perform our process flowcharting of the wire insertion and assembly. In particular, we filled out the flowchart with all the required process steps, specifically denoting the steps that we anticipate are more amenable to automation. We have already found this to be useful in directing the development of the loop tip cooking fixture and allocation of subsystem responsibilities.

We also started to make headway on the software and sensing areas of our project, as we developed a preliminary computer vision proof of concept (PoC) to test component detection capabilities. We ran a few early sample tests on images, which were successful and will guide our implementation of vision tools for part orientation and verification later this semester.

Lastly, we researched a new method of nitinol wire insertion and orientation verification, which will provide a basis for the team to assess an alternative process’ capability for improved precision and repeatability. We will incorporate these learnings into testing and validation efforts as well.

All in all, it was a very productive and technically dense week for the team. We were able to make the transition from our initial brainstorming/planning phase and into prototype development and analysis, which sets the stage for next week’s work as well.

This week was both exciting and productive for our IPPD team. We had the opportunity to present our Preliminary Design Review (PDR) to the class and receive valuable feedback from our peers and instructors. The feedback session was incredibly useful, as it helped us identify errors and areas that needed improvement in our presentation. With these insights, we’ll be able to refine and strengthen our PDR before presenting it to the Johnson & Johnson team later this month.

Most of our focus this week was on our trip to the Johnson & Johnson site in Jacksonville, Florida. This visit was a highlight of the week and gave us a much deeper understanding of how industrial-scale manufacturing systems function. We were able to observe the automated contact lens production line in action, which gave us a better appreciation for the complexity and precision required in such processes.

During our discussions with Ed and the rest of the J&J team, we learned a lot about how our design concepts could be better aligned with their existing manufacturing methods and future goals. Some of our original ideas had to be adjusted based on this new information, but it was a worthwhile change that will make our system more feasible and effective. The visit also helped us understand the kind of quality and integration J&J expects for future catheter production systems, which will guide our next steps.

Looking ahead, our plans for next week include refining our CAD models, developing 3D system components, and continuing to integrate sensor and vision subsystems into our design. We’ll also revise our PDR to include the feedback we received and technical details shared by J&J.

Overall, this week was a great learning experience—both in terms of presentation improvement and gaining a clearer understanding of how our project fits into a real-world industrial setting.

Here is a picture of some of us at dinner after the J&J site visit!

Week 6 has been a major step forward for Corbotics as we continue shaping our design concepts into tangible ideas. With our research foundation and early sketches in place, we’ve shifted focus toward refining how our system will operate and how to make it both reliable and user-friendly.

Our week began with logistics planning for upcoming site visits. The team will be traveling to Jacksonville this week, followed by a planned visit to Irvine, California later in the month. These trips will help us gain a better understanding of the environments and manufacturing processes our design will support.

On the design front, our focus has been integrating mechanical and automation ideas into a cohesive system. We’re creating 3D models in Blender to visualize how motion, alignment, and user interaction come together. Several design directions are being explored, especially around improving repeatability and ease of use in critical steps.

To enhance performance and precision, we discussed concepts like sensor integration, controlled motion mechanisms, and vision-based feedback that could improve consistency. We’re also considering ways to simplify operator interaction by reducing manual handling steps while keeping the system intuitive and safe to use.

Our discussions with faculty and mentors helped us refine small but important details, such as alignment accuracy, material compatibility, and how different components interface under load. These insights are guiding us toward more robust and manufacturable solutions.

Action Items for Next Week:

• Finalize updated CAD models and share within the team drive
• Select the most promising design path for initial prototyping
• Prepare documentation and visuals for upcoming reviews
• Gather feedback from our upcoming Jacksonville visit

Overall, this week was all about turning sketches into systems. Each discussion and iteration brought us closer to a design that’s not only functional but also repeatable, efficient, and ready to evolve into prototype form.

Stay tuned for next week’s update. By then, we’ll have new insights from our trip and more refined visuals to share!

It’s been over a month since our first day of class, and looking back, we’ve made significant progress towards finding a solution.. Week 5 has been about condensing our findings into a Preliminary Design Report, visualizing our ideas with sketches, and expanding our research efforts.

After we established our concept sketch library last week, we’ve been filling it up with drawings of our feeder mechanism and loop fixtures. We presented our sketches to the liaisons, and they loved them. Further tweaks will be made, especially after we receive the catheter components in person and understand the full picture of the assembly process.

To help expand our scope of knowledge, engineering librarian Amy Buhler guided us to resources and some tips and tricks on crafting search strategies for sifting through patent libraries, journals, etc. This will come in handy when we work on our design architecture next week. We are also looking forward to potentially organizing a trip to California to visit a site similar to the one we are assisting in Mexico.