Daniel Simpson has wanted to build robots since he got his first glimpse of comic book superhero Tony Stark’s high-tech workroom in the 2008 Marvel Studios blockbuster “Iron Man.”
“You see this crazy lab with robot arms and things and this contraption that puts the suit on for him,” said Simpson, a freshman in Northeastern University’s College of Engineering. “I was like, ‘Wow. I want to do that.’”

Daniel Simpson, who studies mechanical engineering. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
The engineering student got some hands-on experience during the fall semester, working with his classmates to design and build a mobile COVID-busting robot that uses UV light to sterilize desks and table-tops.
“We wanted to do something that could sanitize desks quickly and moved a little like a Roomba,” Simpson said, referencing the automated…