EVER WONDER WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN if robots didn’t have to rely quite so much on the “computer” part of computation? Diana Bolaños is asking just that.
At the University of California, Berkeley, Bolaños is supporting work on a “slithering snake robot,” using it as a test bed for mechanical intelligence. The goal is to explore whether the robot’s dynamics can do some of the computation instead of relying entirely on a CPU.
“What if we could sense or assess the environment using more traditional mechanical systems like springs or compliant mechanisms? It touches on this idea of physical intelligence, and I’m really excited by this area of mechanical computing,” she said.
Extreme environments can impose tight limits on electronics, energy, and hardware. For systems operating in places like space or underwater, reducing the need for power-hungry onboard computation could make a real difference, she said.
The snake robot prototype was built by a collaborator, so Bolaños has a future goal to build one of her own from the ground up. “I’m not sure exactly what I want that robot to look like, but I’m really interested in making it as mechanical as possible,” she said.
The project converges several threads in Bolaños’ background: mechanical design, AI, robotics, creativity, and an interest in building systems that can do more with less.
The Best of Both Worlds
In her high school days, Bolaños was drawn to computer science and calculus as much as she was to studio art and photography. She even won photography contests. “I was kind of torn about which career," she said. “It’s the caveat of like, you have a lot of talents and you should pursue them in a way that’s going to better the world.”
It wasn’t until senior year that she made up her mind. Her physics teacher had worked at NASA, she said, and served as a cool inspiration of the kind of impact engineering and science could have. Engineering, she realized, did not have to be mundane.
Her artistic side shows in her work, though more quietly than it might have in another version of her life. “I still try to keep up with it as a hobby, but I honestly see it come up in ways in academia that are unexpected, like in figures for papers or designing mechanical systems,” she said.
One of those unexpected ways happened to be during her master’s work at Brigham Young University, where a research group working on origami caught her eye.
“When I saw what they were doing, I was like, oh, this could be a really good mix of my skills and more traditional engineering, while also incorporating an aesthetic component to it,” Bolaños said.
The work involved origami-inspired systems for deployable space applications—engineering structures that could be folded tightly for launch and then expanded in orbit. “Continuing in that line of work would be really interesting,” she said. “Whether that’s origami space arrays or antennas, possibly adding an AI or mechanical computation component to it as well.”
The crossover of engineering and AI is one that Bolaños, who’s published in both fields, sees becoming increasingly intertwined, especially as AI moves deeper into physical domains.
“Being at Berkeley, in the Silicon Valley area, it’s kind of the heart of a lot of where AI innovation is happening,” she said. “It’s really cool to see how much interest there is from leaders in the AI space around the engineering domain.”
The question of what it means to help train AI models that may change the profession is one she’s wrestled with, but she doesn’t see traditional mechanical engineering jobs being replaced at this point. Staying ahead of the curve, she said, may be part of the answer, but it is still a trade-off engineers will have to keep weighing.
“Being a woman of color, especially in engineering, has had its challenges. In undergrad, I can recall a few experiences where people questioned if I was getting an opportunity or good grades just to keep a good ratio of women in the field.”
—Diana Bolanos, Researcher, University of California, Berkeley
If Bolaños could talk with any entrepreneur, past or present, she would choose John Deere. “My first internship was at John Deere, and they gave us a whole spiel of who he was. It’s really cool that his innovations are almost 200 years old, yet the company is still thriving on a lot of the traditional mechanics he invented,” she said.
Building Belonging
The future of engineering is about more than technology, though. Outside of her research, Bolaños has also worked to build the kind of community she once needed herself.
As a student in the field, she had to learn how to navigate spaces where she was often underrepresented. “I think being a woman of color, especially in engineering, has those challenges,” Bolaños said. “In undergrad, I can recall a few experiences where people questioned if I was getting an opportunity just because of wanting to keep up a good ratio of women in the field.”
She was a hard worker and spent a lot of time in office hours asking questions to fill any knowledge gaps, so those assumptions about her merits were particularly stinging. But finding a community helped.
“Getting involved with organizations like SHPE [Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers] and SWE [Society of Women Engineers] were super important,” she said. “I was really the only woman of color at one point in my lab, and I think even in the whole engineering department.”
Bolaños said some of her involvement came out of necessity. As an undergrad, she volunteered to help keep her SHPE chapter from dying out. It highlighted a bigger problem: These groups can be vital sources of belonging and opportunity, yet too often are underfunded and left to survive on student effort alone.
Now, at Berkeley, she supports the Latino Graduate Student Association, including planning corporate sponsorship events that connect graduate students in STEM with organizations and career opportunities.
And as a regular attendee at conferences, including ASME’s International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC), one thing she’d love to see more of are events for women, people of color, and international audiences. “I think that would be really cool to start something or get a little group together," she said.
Her advice to young women and peers in engineering is to find your people early on, get involved, and say yes to opportunities. “I honestly try to say yes to as much as I can handle at the moment,” she said.
Sarah Alburakeh is strategic content editor.
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