Michael Kolakowski Email & Phone Number

New London, Connecticut, United States

As a Mechanical Intern at Orbitform, I designed subsystems of custom machines designed for industrial fastening and assembly tasks. I created SolidWorks models of custom tooling, fixturing, and supportive components, and generated engineering drawings to pass designs on to the machinists and machine builders.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

As a Mechanical Engineer for BIRDSlab (the Biologically Inspired Robotics and Dynamic Systems lab), I iteratively re-designed and fabricated the meter-scale hexapedal robots we call "BigANTs". BigANT robots can climb hills, step over obstacles, and traverse any terrain (floors, grass, gravel, puddles, snow), and can be controlled wirelessly by an Xbox-style controller. BigANTs are made of modular components, so if one particular part is damaged it can be rapidly replaced with an equivalent part. If replacement is not an immediate option, the BigANT design and different gait options allow the robot to continue on even if it loses one of its foremost or hindmost limbs.Beyond the literal tasks BigANTs can accomplish, the real motivation is to prove a practical methodology for producing modular robots cheaply and quickly: a BigANT body can be built from scratch in a day by a single person, using under $20 of material. The BigANT project is driven by the idea that we need a way to produce "disposable" robots for use in hazardous conditions (nuclear or biological disaster zone, battlefield, natural disaster, etc.). In addition to making robots cheap and disposable, we need the capability to produce robots on the fly to fit any situation, which is why I work to simplify the processes for constructing the robots as well as to optimize the designs for the different versions of BigANT. The "big picture" goal is to advance a methodology for rapidly and inexpensively constructing a robot on-demand to fulfill whatever requirements a situation presents.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

In conjunction with my research on synthesizing perovskite solar cells in ambient conditions, I served as an Instructional Assistant for a lab course on the same topic. In this role, I demonstrated techniques for accomplishing the different steps of building the solar cells, and provided assistance as the students attempted the procedures themselves. I additionally gave explanations about the the theories behind the chemistry, physics, and optics involved, and served as a mentor and guide as the students designed their own experiments and tested their new ideas.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

As a researcher with The Maldonado Group at the University of Michigan, I optimized the processes for synthesizing next-generation perovskite photovoltaic solar cells in ambient conditions. I specifically focused on perfecting the processes to produce these solar cells using electrodeposition instead of the traditional spin-coating. This project was inspired by the fact that while spin-coating works on small-scale experimental solar panels in a lab, spin-coating cannot feasibly be scaled up to a mass-production industrial setting.In the course of optimizing the electrodeposition process, I designed and fabricated an apparatus to facilitate the electrodeposition. Through several months of iterative design, I improved the apparatus repeatedly. Use of my final design increased the production rate of successful electrodepositions by approximately 12 times, and my invention has since been implemented in undergraduate laboratory courses at the University of Michigan.