A New Direction
Around 12 years old, I started becoming fascinated by the mechanisms of the human body and how robotics could imitate them. This curiosity would eventually lead me to prosthetics research.
The Project
I created a mechanism to mimic the human eyelid. The design was simple:
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A curved surface representing the eyeball
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A flexible covering that could slide over it
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A linkage system to control the opening and closing motion
Into the Uncanny Valley
The result was... almost in the uncanny valley. The movement was recognizable as an eyelid, but something felt slightly off - that unsettling feeling when something is close to human but not quite right.
Despite this, I enjoyed making it. There's something fascinating about trying to recreate biological systems mechanically.
Seeds of Future Work
This simple project planted seeds that would grow into my career focus:
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Understanding anatomy before attempting to replicate it
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Appreciating the complexity of movements we take for granted
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Recognizing the gap between mechanical and biological systems
Years later, these same questions would drive my work on the CleverHand prosthetic.