WELCOME
I am passionate about applying mechanical engineering to improve quality of life in all my projects. At Illumina, I design components in future DNA sequencing instruments. At MIT, I designed a robotic hand for use around the home, with potential application for prostheses. Links to several of my notable projects can be found below.
NOTABLE PROJECTS
Click on a project for more information.
Robotic Hand Design, MIT, 2020 - May 2022
For my master's research at MIT, I built an integrated design pipeline for sensorized robotic manipulators to streamline the robotic hand design process.
Exoskeletons, suitX (now Ottobock), 2019 - 2020
I designed exoskeletons, prototyping, user testing, and stress testing (both physical and using SolidWorks FEA) for various R&D projects at suitX, an exoskeleton startup founded by UC Berkeley's Professor Kazerooni and recently acquired by Ottobock.
Tetraplegic Gripper Device, UC Berkeley, 2018, 2019
I designed, modeled and built a mechanical gripper for a tetraplegic user through the UC Berkeley EnableTech Club. I led the device redesign in my Global Product Development Class to be more user friendly, mass-producible, and reliable.
Speed Bike, UC Berkeley, 2018 - 2019
I led the overall bike design and manufacturing in a team of twenty-five in the UC Berkeley Human Powered Vehicles Club and specialized in the frame design, performing FEA analysis to ensure its safety. The vehicle will compete in the IHPVA World Human-Powered Speed Challenge in September 2020.
Delta-Leaning Tricycle, UC Berkeley, 2017 - 2018
I performed aerodynamic design and analysis to build a recumbent delta-leaning tricycle in the UC Berkeley Human Powered Vehicles Club. The bike took 3rd place at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers E-Fest West Human Powered Vehicle Challenge.
Tensegrity Search-and-Rescue Robot, UC Berkeley, 2017
I designed frictionless end caps at the BEST Lab for a 6-bar spherical tensegrity robot intended for use as a search and rescue robot.
EXPERIENCE
My CV contains more information, but here are some highlights…
- MIT mechanical engineering master's student performing robotics research under Wojciech Matusik and Pulkit Agrawal
- Exoskeleton Engineering Intern, suitX
- Prosthetics Researcher at BEST Lab with Professor Agogino
- Engineering Associate, Applied BioMechanics
- Co-President and Frame Subteam Lead, Human Powered Vehicles Club, UC Berkeley (2018-2019)
- Team Mentor, El Cerrito High School (2nd place team, PiE Season Award), Pioneers in Engineering (PiE)
- Conference Committee Member, Women in Science and Engineering
AWARDS
- NSF GFRP Honorable Mention, 2021
- MIT Folger Fellow
-
Dean's Honors List Spring 2019, College of Engineering, UC Berkeley
(Semester GPA in the top 10% of all College of Engineering undergraduates) - Finalist, 2017 Collegiate Poster & Rapid Fire Competition, Society of Women Engineers
- Committee Member of the Month (March 2017), Society of Women Engineers
PUBLICATIONS
An End-to-End Differentiable Framework for Contact-Aware Robot Design
Jie Xu, Tao Chen, Lara Zlokapa, Michael Foshey, Wojciech Matusik, Shinjiro Sueda, Pulkit Agrawal Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2021
An Integrated Design Pipeline for Tactile Sensing Robotic Manipulators
Lara Zlokapa, Yiyue Luo, Jie Xu, Michael Foshey, Kui Wu, Pulkit Agrawal, Wojciech Matusik IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022
An Integrated Design Pipeline for Tactile Sensing Robotic Manipulators
Lara Zlokapa, Wojciech Matusik, Pulkit Agrawal M.S. Thesis, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2022
ABOUT ME
I'm a engineer at Illumina who cares about connecting with the community in as many ways as possible, including mentoring local high school students. As a grad student at MIT, I hosted department-wide social events for MIT mechanical engineering grad students in my free time. Besides my industry experience and academic lab engineering projects, I've created countless laser-cut presents for my friends and family. I enjoy learning languages and speak some French, German, and Serbo-Croatian. When I'm not working on my latest design project, you can find me swing dancing, baking bread, hiking, or attempting to surf.
