I'm Ben Bokser. I'm originally from New York City, and I graduated from the City College of New York in June 2018 with a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering. Currently I'm a robotics/mechatronics research engineer at Liberating Technologies, a prosthetics and orthotics research company in the greater Boston area.
I am primarily interested in developing novel robots. I have focused on developing a deep skill set and knowledge base in robotics over the course of my career—I have designed, simulated, machined, programmed, and tested various robotic devices through undergraduate research, industry experience, and personal projects.
Hackaday
Github
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I am primarily interested in developing novel robots. I have focused on developing a deep skill set and knowledge base in robotics over the course of my career—I have designed, simulated, machined, programmed, and tested various robotic devices through undergraduate research, industry experience, and personal projects.
Hackaday
Github
Professional Experience
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Nov 2018 – Present
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Liberating Technologies, Inc. Holliston, MA
Robotics/Mechatronics Research Engineer At Liberating Technologies, I am involved in electro-mechanical device prototyping and product design. I use CAD, kinematic analysis, 3D printing and machining on a daily basis to design and prototype a variety of prosthetic and orthotic technologies. I am currently developing a hybrid energy storage and return prosthetic foot. I have used FEA to hit spring property requirements, and designed compression mold tooling which was used to fabricate the CFRP springs. For this project, I am also designing lightweight structural metal components with FEA and performing tolerance analysis for machining. I am also developing a powered prosthetic finger with a cable driven robotic gripper on the fingertip, through CAD and iterative prototyping. I have developed alternative versions optimized for injection molding and CNC machining as options for production. I developed a powered hand exoskeleton, which returned hand function to human subjects. In one case, a subject was able to tie their shoes after 3 years of inability to do so. I conceptualized and designed a robotic prosthetic hand with a novel belt driven differential mechanism. Finally, I wrote proposal narratives for research grant applications. |
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Jan 2018 – Jun 2018
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Biomechatronics and Intelligent Robotics Lab (BIRO), CCNY, CUNY. New York, NY
Mechanical Design Engineer At the BIRo Laboratory, I designed and co-wrote a proposal for a concept hip and back exoskeleton that won the Toyota Mobility Challenge’s $50k Discovery Award. I also designed an orthotic cable driven ankle exoskeleton and prototyped a soft hydraulic artificial muscle (HAM) with a miniature hydraulic system. |
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Sep 2017 – Dec 2017
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Neural Engineering Lab, Center for Discovery and Innovation, CCNY, CUNY. New York, NY
Mechanical Engineer At the Neural Engineering Lab, I worked with a team of engineers to design and prototype an ergonomic assisted mobility device, Toddler Cane, for vision-impaired children. I also modeled various custom 3D-printed tools for neuroscience research. |
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Jun 2017 – Aug 2017
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The Boeing Company. Huntsville, AL
Systems Engineering Intern As a systems engineering intern, I programmed and modeled an interface between an open source MATLAB black-box verification algorithm and a Simulink Real-Time target computer as a proof-of-concept for black-box verification of airplane control systems. I also modeled airplane control systems in Simulink for this purpose. Near the end of my internship, I developed an interface between MATLAB Simulink and an open source flight simulator for software-in-the-loop verification and validation that could be used conveniently in 25% as much time as a proprietary internal co-simulation program. This convinced the simulations team to change the course of development of the program. |
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Oct 2015 – May 2017
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CCNY Computer Vision and Robotics Laboratory, CCNY, CUNY. New York, NY
Mechanical Engineer As a mechanical engineer at the CCNY Robotics Lab, I led a team of students to design and prototype a window cleaning robot for commercial use. |
Education
In June of 2018, I received a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the City College of New York.
Software Skills
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Mechanical Expertise
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Electrical Skills
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Leadership
From 2016 through to my graduation in 2018, I served as president of the CCNY Robotics Club. There, I managed robotics projects and activities for an active member base of over 30 students.
