https://www.nicholasathompson.com/about daily 0.75 2025-09-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ce435d6bea1ed00016ba287/1558964652247-5MWXNMFZVOPGE4TY6U2Q/MHeiderich_ReflexionenZwei-05-copy.jpg About https://www.nicholasathompson.com/publications daily 0.75 2025-04-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ce435d6bea1ed00016ba287/1558964652247-5MWXNMFZVOPGE4TY6U2Q/MHeiderich_ReflexionenZwei-05-copy.jpg Publications and Presentations https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work daily 1.0 2025-04-18 https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/soft-materials-3d-printer monthly 0.5 2021-11-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/0215b2b7-7b20-4683-aed8-78bb7acc21e3/Image+from+iOS+%283%29.jpg Work - Soft Materials 3D Printer - Soft Materials 3D Printer University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/582fd13d-b1c7-47cd-bb58-199eb2bd6183/PXL_20201209_230328343.jpg Work - Soft Materials 3D Printer https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/disc-feeding-mechanism monthly 0.5 2021-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/93e42385-9f82-4a3a-b54c-4c1136b3b1d5/12036260.jpg Work - Disc Feeding Mechanism - Disc Feeding Mechanism Minnesota Wire https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/3c345114-8a30-434c-96a5-ce0e23f82483/12036257.jpg Work - Disc Feeding Mechanism - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/295bc6f2-be7e-4ca4-a5ac-8b6194cf0c96/12036258.jpg Work - Disc Feeding Mechanism https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/810e609a-9ba4-4978-a6b6-11cfcc6e3cd3/12036259.jpg Work - Disc Feeding Mechanism - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/soft-exoskeletons monthly 0.5 2021-11-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/d44358aa-48b5-4f16-b552-73c1c91a1458/ICRA2018_sleeve_cr.png Work - Soft Exoskeletons - Soft Exoskeletons University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/b85c6a8f-af7e-414a-8033-82a07b0f6795/ICRA2018_NT_Fig+3_v2_lg_cr.png Work - Soft Exoskeletons - Make it stand out Linear FREEs can be arranged (a) in parallel or (b) in two-level nested architectures for amplified contraction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/a0c87c18-7558-481b-94e1-f75d86439ecd/ICRA2018_NT_Fig+6_cr.png Work - Soft Exoskeletons - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/fdbcf35f-ce94-412e-96df-4081f65a75e0/ICRA2018_NT_Fig+1c.png Work - Soft Exoskeletons - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/74fe59d1-6aa4-4a5b-81ec-4312823f0d13/FREEarchitectures.png Work - Soft Exoskeletons - Make it stand out (a) Nested linear and (b) pennate FREE architectures considered for the shoulder exoskeleton. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/3c4eadf1-d677-4e22-9787-28a5549c3124/exo_photos_website.png Work - Soft Exoskeletons https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/disengaging-valve-handle monthly 0.5 2021-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/96007f70-fddd-424f-8203-e4bbb0e14f5e/tankcar-10bottomvalve-main.jpg Work - Disengaging Valve Handle - Disengaging Valve Handle Union Tank Car Company https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/0548443b-a03f-467e-80f8-2eff7c07ea4d/UTLX-logo-in-white-box_cr.jpg Work - Disengaging Valve Handle - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/d6b3228f-9ba9-442c-b253-030fe80cacb2/AARLogo.png Work - Disengaging Valve Handle - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/fa3b3a1b-8e90-4be5-995e-902be1ab885c/BOV+handle.gif Work - Disengaging Valve Handle https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/4fdafd41-933f-4de2-8507-0fab83940f9f/DSCF0020.JPG Work - Disengaging Valve Handle - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/5c49d24d-ecf9-4d67-b2d1-672c78db4952/DSCF0032.JPG Work - Disengaging Valve Handle https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/curved-soft-actuators monthly 0.5 2021-11-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/3a44b625-40b3-464b-9d8a-4605c38c3ed0/IMG_1838_cr.jpg Work - Curved Soft Actuators - Curved Soft Actuators University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/63b3adff-6186-480f-88ca-3258a4c6aa16/FREE+overview.png Work - Curved Soft Actuators (a) A FREE with symmetric fiber angles less than 54° (b) contracts axially and expands radially under pressure. (c) Unpressurized and (d) pressurized contracting FREE. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/3b6767d1-aabe-4b7e-a946-68824dae4552/curved_FREE_mold.png Work - Curved Soft Actuators - Make it stand out Curve paths were defined in Blender, and then transferred to CAD for mold modeling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/a47adbbb-d675-4aac-85cf-404469b85146/curved_FREE_intro.png Work - Curved Soft Actuators https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/8d085840-cc06-4158-84b7-c155c7a088ab/curved_FREE_FEA.gif Work - Curved Soft Actuators https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/43dcc9ba-32e0-4a84-a6b4-97c155aae2e1/R20_r5_2D.png Work - Curved Soft Actuators - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/concrete-gate monthly 0.5 2021-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/38c88a86-31c7-43c0-8da9-ac9246ead3aa/15813136_cr.png Work - Concrete Gate - Concrete Gate Crosstree, Inc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/ac182818-c51b-46f1-8756-827c121c0ba7/15813158.jpg Work - Concrete Gate - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/d790356c-15ca-4256-921e-536261afba42/15813139.jpg Work - Concrete Gate - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/948a81d9-cd60-40ed-912c-3bc5d401ff03/15813155_edit_cr.jpg Work - Concrete Gate - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/0005fdc3-371f-47bc-b76a-4f9ac20d7789/15813137.jpg Work - Concrete Gate - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/40c39e9f-eb31-4fcc-869c-c338bf96d8e5/IMG_0254_cr.png Work - Concrete Gate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/7c4ee3b6-e64c-4346-a7c2-ff86f1705696/15813135.jpg Work - Concrete Gate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/d6b9bbb9-e3c8-4177-954b-43d2b3c5fbd9/15813145.jpg Work - Concrete Gate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/dd39f380-cc2a-46c1-8fc4-b70485627f8b/15813133.jpg Work - Concrete Gate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/a31080fa-b6c7-42ee-9042-cf0bf10f55c2/15813134.jpg Work - Concrete Gate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/4070c5a9-e887-4eac-9f7e-e36cf5c120b5/15813148.jpg Work - Concrete Gate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/b3df2525-c380-4e5a-928d-67ef2622575c/15813154.jpg Work - Concrete Gate https://www.nicholasathompson.com/work/soft-robotic-heart monthly 0.5 2021-11-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/fded69e8-aab8-456e-9bb4-d33dfeca722d/SAHS+overview+2.png Work - Soft Robotic Heart - Soft Robotic Heart University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | OSF Healthcare | Jump ARCHES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/2824dc39-bc0a-4f12-90bb-60df41e32475/TP+graphic.png Work - Soft Robotic Heart Labels and catheter were added to the heart illustration drawn by Patrick J. Lynch, used under CC BY 2.5. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/3ae44bc4-fa5d-43d9-9794-de87a3fce454/FO_validation.png Work - Soft Robotic Heart - Make it stand out The fossa insert is made from Smooth-On Dragon Skin 10, which has the same tenting and puncture responses as human fossa tissue from literature [1]. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/31651de5-5374-4b9f-bdab-9cb816abe144/RA_fossa.jpg Work - Soft Robotic Heart https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/2d23674e-04b9-4c56-b16f-7063586df7ad/vlcsnap-2021-10-11-16h53m49s190.png Work - Soft Robotic Heart https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/44b9d6ca-8507-4e22-9e22-cf31abac6d60/img_20200728_114445_edit.jpg Work - Soft Robotic Heart https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/8216323b-c8e9-480b-bfbd-4e35521a5414/RA.png Work - Soft Robotic Heart https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/1a2f8c01-4791-42eb-be1c-08b99c6765ec/SATPS_assembly.png Work - Soft Robotic Heart https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6193cfe788497b1240e65fd8/e18f7aea-913a-494d-96d6-93142052558a/pneumatics.jpg Work - Soft Robotic Heart