Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood's Lab 

Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood

Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood joined Carnegie Mellon University as a Mechanical Engineering faculty member in the of fall 2018 and established the Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group (B.O.R.G). The B.O.R.G.’s research focuses on the use of organic materials as structures, actuators, sensors, and controllers toward the development of biohybrid and organic robots and biohybrid prosthetics.

Charli Ann Hooper

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student, Charli Ann Hooper (Exp. '22), is researching how she can use cultures from embryonic chicks to create a swimming robot that could eventually be used to monitor water quality. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Charli took advantage of local tech resources and always had a love for math. Hear more about her research and what led her to want to be a part of Dr. Webster-Wood's B.O.R.G research. 

Allison Rojas

Allison Rojas, a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student (Exp. '22), didn't have a linear path to CMU. Watch the video below to discover what project motivated her to change her direction academically and how she became a researcher in Dr. Webster-Wood's B.O.R.G. lab. Allison's research aims to offer a new way to assist with recycling sorting by mimicing how our own fingertips sense.

Mechanical Engineering - Muscles, Robots and Grippers Lesson Plan

Dr. Webster-Wood's B.O.R.G. lab focuses on how environmentally-friendly and biodegradable robots could be used in the future in a variety of ways. The lesson plan takes learners through areas that above featured undergraduate students are investigating by incorporating basic idea that muscles work together, living organisms can be incorporated or modeled to make robots, and how robots can emulate humans. The lesson plan is designed to be adapted for middle through high school levels as a supplement to existing instruction.