Graduate

Boston University
Morphable Biorobotics Lab

My research has explored the use of magnetorheological fluids and electropermanent magnets for controlling soft robots.

Primary Publications

Modulation of Magnetorheological Fluid Flow in Soft Robots Using Electropermanent Magnets

Hardware Methods for Onboard Control of Fluidically Actuated Soft Robots

Magnetorheological fluid-based flow control for soft robots

Full Publications List

Journal Articles

• L. Gaeta, K. McDonald, L. Kinnicutt, M. Le, S. Wilkinson-Flicker, T. Ranzani, “Magnetically induced stiffening for soft robotics,” Soft Matter, (Accepted)

• J. Rogatinsky, K. Gomatam, Z. H. Lim, M. Lee, L. Kinnicutt, C. Duriez, P. Thomson, K. McDonald, and T. Ranzani, "A collapsible soft actuator facilitates performance in constrained environments," Advanced Intelligent Systems, June 2022

• K. J. McDonald, L. Kinnicutt, A. M. Moran, and T. Ranzani, “Modulation of magnetorheological fluid flow in soft robots using electropermanent magnets,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Feb. 2022

• K. McDonald and T. Ranzani, “Hardware methods for onboard control of fluidically actuated soft robots,” Frontiers in Robotics and AI, vol. 8, pp. 1–19, Aug. 2021.

• K. McDonald, A. Rendos, S. Woodman, K. A. Brown, and T. Ranzani, “Magnetorheological fluid-based flow control for soft robots,” Advanced Intelligent Systems, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 1–8, 2020.

• A. Rendos, S. Woodman, K. McDonald, T. Ranzani, and K. A. Brown, “Shear thickening prevents slip in magnetorheological fluids,” Smart Materials and Structures, vol. 29, no. 7, 2020.

  Conference Proceedings

• K. J. McDonald, L. Kinnicutt, A. M. Moran, and T. Ranzani, “Modulation of magnetorheological fluid flow in soft robots using electropermanent magnets,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2022

• A. Gupte, L. Kinnicutt, K. McDonald, and T. Ranzani, “A soft ionic sensor for simultaneous pressure and strain measurements,” 2020 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), pp. 266–271, 2020.

  Other Presentations

• L. Kinnicutt, A. Pathak, T. Bohac, A. Peng, C. Taglietti, C. Lee, R. Rauf, J. Lee, L. Zi Heng, J. Rogatinsky, K. McDonald, S. Mori Carroll, J. Siracuse, and T. Ranzani, “Minimally Invasive Soft Robotic Prototypes Provide Variable Occlusion in Simplified Aortic Flow Model,” American Heart Association Resuscitation Science Symposium, Chicago, IL, November 5, 2022

• K. McDonald and T. Ranzani, "Comparison Criteria for Hardware Methods for Onboard Control of Fluidically Actuated Soft Robots," lighting talk at the New Directions for Simplified Control of Soft Robots workshop, 2022 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Edinburgh, UK, April 4, 2022

• A. Rendos, K. McDonald, T. Ranzani, and K. A. Brown, “Designing Magnetorheological Fluids for SoftRobotics,” Material Research Society Fall Meeting, December 2, 2019, Boston, MA

Undergraduate

Northeastern University
Expeditionary Robotics Lab

Conference Proceedings

• C. Liu, C. M. Gomes, K. J. Mcdonald, L. F. Deravi, and S. M. Felton, “A chemo-mechatronic origami device for chemical sensing,” Proceedings of the ASME 2018 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, pp. 1–7.