Amos G. Winter V, M.S.

The Boston Globe article RoboClam may become the first “smart” anchor said

It isn’t cute, like Japan’s robot dog. Or endearingly domestic, like those roboticized vacuum cleaners that beetle around the living room in pursuit of household dirt.
 
But mariners, oil outfits, and the military have big hopes for an unlikely contraption called RoboClam under design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
RoboClam is meant to become the first “smart” anchor, a major departure from the prosaic piece of nautical gear that hasn’t changed much in centuries.
 
“We started two years ago looking at all creatures that burrow into undersea strata,” said Amos G. Winter, a graduate student who has performed much of the work making RoboClam reality. “Quahogs, crabs, seaworms … .”
 
Armed with a shellfish license and homemade clam rake, and bundled into a cumbersome pair of chest waders, Winter scoured tidal flats near Gloucester, studying the creatures that thrive in the fecund sand and mud.
 
Razor clams grabbed his attention — for their speed, sleek shape, and stubborn tenacity in holding fast when finally cornered in the muck.
 
On a measure of anchoring force, Winter said, “razor clams beat everything, including the best anchors, by a factor of 10.”

Amos G. Winter V, M.S. is currently pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests include biomimetic design, fluid/solid/granular mechanics, design for international development, human power, biomechanics, mechanical/precision machine design, and design of ocean systems.
 
For his Ph.D. thesis, Amos is investigating how to design compact, low-power, dynamic, and reversible burrowing and anchoring systems for use in soft undersea substrates. The technology and robotic devices resulting from this work are based on the burrowing mechanisms employed by razor clams.
 
As a practicing engineer, Amos has worked with Bluefin Robotics, Schlumberger, Massachusetts General Hospital, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Additionally, He has engaged in numerous projects focused on developing country mobility aids. He is the inventor of the Leveraged Freedom Chair: a wheelchair designed specifically for use in developing countries, and is the founder and director of the MIT Mobility Lab (M-Lab).
 
Amos coauthored Visualization System for Burrowing Organisms in Granular Substrates (includes video) and Assessing MAARDEC: A Comparison with Other Assistive Device Workshop and Disability Organization Models.
 
Watch A Genius for Change, and the Passion to Do It. Read Building a better wheelchair and Champion for the Disabled.