Project Portfolio
3DOF Haptic Feedback Device A
- Spent 3 months designing, manufacturing, and testing a 3DOF haptic device for Engineering Capstone
- The device is designed to augment VR technology by providing force feedback as a user interacts with a virtual environment
- A user can now, in virtual reality, touch objects, pick them up and feel their weight, and feel textures to name a few as one would do in real life
- Product is highly versatile, capable of 30 N maximum force and sub-mm resolution at the home position as well as a 0.32 m3 working volume, all in a durable and portable form factor
- Versatility of the platform will be advantageous in the exploration of applications for haptic devices such as robotic surgery, physiotherapy and rehabilitation, digital sculpting, and video gaming
- Produced a highly refined product in a very short time frame, greatly exceeding expectations
- Development and refinement continued into the summer of 2021 upon recommendation of the faculty advisor
Helium Aero
- Chief Technical Lead and Product Architect leading a team of 40+ in the development of a high mobility, compact, semiautonomous, personal aerial vehicle
- Constructed a software model to iterate through the configuration space and settle on an optimal configuration
- A dodeca-hexacopter rotor configuration is used to maximize swept area and efficiency in a compact form factor with additional benefits in redundancy and agility
- Entirely electric power system with multiple redundancies and failsafes
- Highly scalable battery pack designed and manufactured in-house
- Primarily carbon composite structure
- Successfully built and tested a half-scale and quarter-scale prototype
- Completed the construction of a full-scale manufacturing pathfinder
- Diversified the applications of the platform into areas such as agriculture, logistics, and first response
SongBook App P
- Developed an Android application containing an offline library of 1000+ songs and their chords
- Wrote a Matlab program to parse a pdf, identify songs, chords, titles, and song keys, and create an SQLite database containing extracted info
- Android application has the ability to transpose songs, create playlists, display chords in the number system, browse song titles, and query songs, lyrics, and authors in the database
- Implemented three different search algorithms to best provide the user with their desired result
Hovercraft Drag Racer P
- Objective
- Design a device to cross 20ft as fast as possible.
- Constraints
- Must float on a cushion of air
- Size limitations
- Material restrictions: foam, plastics
- Battery options (2x AA, 2x AAA, or 1x 9V)
- Testing
- Available batteries could not deliver sufficient power due to high internal resistance.
- Solution
- Use batteries to charge a supercapacitor array for rapid discharge.
- Problem
- Supercapacitors’ discharge characteristics limited energy accessibility before hitting the minimum voltage required (4V) for motor control electronics.
- Solution
- Boost battery voltage to charge supercapacitors up to 16V
- Result
- Fastest time (2s) in the competition (median 6s)
- Additional innovations
- Modular chassis for easy experimentation and iteration.
Compute Center Coldplate Design A
- Developed a coldplate design for watercooled datacenter GPUs
- Created and analyzed a variety of concepts with CFD
- Optimized for minimal pressure drop and manufacturing cost while simultaneously meeting thermal performance requirements
Snare Metronome P
- Developed a device and accompanying app to better allow a drummer to stay on time
- The device uses internal sensors to detect drum strokes and communicate the information to a smartphone
- A smartphone acts as a user interface and a computer which can process the stroke events and produce a best fit tempo
- Employs autocorrelation and various other algorithms to vastly improve the robustness of the beat detection and tempo estimation process
CAD project P
- Spent a few months designing a formula 1 car and supercar in AutoCAD Fusion 360 CAD software
- Spent many hours creating smooth, flowing NURBS surfaces in an original design
- Performed rudimentary CFD in AutoCAD Flow Design
- Iteratively refined surfaces to decrease drag and increase downforce
Four Stroke Go Kart P
- Designed and built a two stroke go-kart over the summer of 2018 with a few friends
- MIG welded tube steel frame designed and built from scratch
- Features a 212 cc horizontal shaft power washer engine
- Modified the carburetor for increased fuel flow and atomization for more complete combustion and increased power
- Utilized a continuously variable transmission and centrifugal clutch commonly found in snowmobiles and mopeds
- Optimized caster and camber angles for high speed stability and effective turn-in performance
- Custom designed rail mounted seat for high adjustability
Mechanical Adder with Novel Reset Mechanism A
- Four digit mechanical adder designed and manufactured in a span of two weeks for the course MEC411 Advanced Manufacturing
- Created in accordance with material and manufacturing limitations
- Features a novel adding, carryover and reset mechanism
- Compact form factor and incorporated stylus increase usability and convenience
- The use of 3d printed flexures and compliant mechanisms maximizes functionality at a reduced part count
- Generated CAM toolpaths in MasterCAM and produced a functional 3d printed prototype
Elastic Powered Acrylic Car A
- Designed and manufactured an Elastic Powered Acrylic car to fulfill the requirements of a Manufacturing Fundamentals course
- Developed in accordance with material restrictions to compete in a drag race and a hill climb
- Novel spiral pulley was designed to flatten the linear torque curve produced by the elastic. Peak torque and acceleration can now be sustained for longer at the limit of traction resulting in a shorter drag time and significantly improved hill climb performance
- A high strength box section chassis secured with interlocking finger joints is used to withstand the tension of the elastics
- All wheel drive with a 33-67 power distribution between the front and rear axles ensured highly effective power delivery during acceleration
- An innovative one way clutch disengages the transmission at top speed, allowing the vehicle to freewheel with minimal resistance
- Resulted in the fastest drag time in the class and one of the few cars able to complete the hill climb challenge
Star Tracker for Astrophotography P
- Designed a star tracker to allow a camera to perform long exposures in astrophotography by compensating for the rotation of the earth
- Features a two stage 3600:1 worm reduction resulting in a positional error less than 0.05%
- A low cost BYJ48 stepper and Arduino Nano are used to rotate at a precise rate
- Extensive calibration procedure was carried out to account for and minimize error
- 3d printed chassis and tripod reduce undesirable oscillations and flex
- Resulted in a high performing device at a fraction of the cost of commercial devices
- Was able to capture images of the Andromeda Galaxy and Messier 45
High Performance 3d Printed Quadcopter P
- Designed and manufactured a quadcopter capable of high performance acrobatics but with enough stability for videography
- Designed the and fabricated electrical power and control system from various off the shelf components
- Calibrated the PID control parameters of the flight computer for most effective performance
- 3d printed a highly durable, robust chassis capable of sustaining high speed impacts
Multifunction Leaf Management Device A
- Designed a multifunction leaf management device to fulfill the requirements of Intro to Engineering Design
- Performed extensive analysis and followed highly detailed design roadmap produce the final product
- The device features a multi stage mower, mulcher, blower capable of collecting and expelling leaves for use as mulch
- Exhaustive problem analysis, system design, concept design, and iteration was conducted
Line Level Metronome for Live Performance P
- Rapidly designed a compact device not available commercially to fill a personal need
- The device overlays a metronome click over the signal from the personal monitor to aid musicians during live performance
- Designed circuitry incorporating a summing amp, pushbutton circuits, piezoelectric knock sensor, volume control, 7 segment LEDs, a microcontroller, and 3.5mm audio jacks
- Produced two iterations, a functional prototype and a refined, compactified final version
Long Range FPV UAV P (In Progress)
- Began the design process of a Long Range FPV UAV to be manufactured primarily using rapid prototyping techniques
- Used tools such as XFLR5 to optimize the NACA 2412 profile wing for maximum efficiency within the design constraints
- Prototyped and destructively tested 3d printed wing segments to determine structural characteristics and feasibility of the final product
Emergency Protection System for Turret Surveillance Cameras E
- Designed an emergency protections system for turret surveillance cameras in the span of 48h for a design competition
- Incorporated a 1DOF mechanism to simultaneously retract and enclose the camera, significantly reducing failure modes in a critical emergency system
- Performed CFD analysis to determine aerodynamic effects on the supporting aircraft
- Produced a series of photorealistic renders to provide the “client” with an accurate depiction of the product
Electric Drive Cart – Powertrain Design A
- Designed an electric drive cart with a focus on fatigue analysis of the powertrain
- Applied principles of machine design to optimize shafts and other cyclically stressed components for intended design life
- Utilized a variety of manufacturing processes including casting, machining, welding
- Designed for manufacturing and assembly, employing draft angles for cast components
- Incorporated Ackerman steering geometry and differentials to eliminate tire scrub and maximize ease of operation
Investigation Into the Feasibility of 3d Printing Forms for High Performance Composites E (In Progress)
- Planning the manufacture and testing of high performance composite components created using FDM molds
- Tooling materials and machining are significant expenses in the production of composite parts; the use of FDM techniques will significantly reduce production costs in small batches
- Challenges include achieving acceptable levels of dimensional accuracy and surface finish
Composite Overmolding of FDM Cores P (In Progress)
- Investigating the feasibility of overmolding FDM printed cores with Fiber Reinforced Composites to produce a rear wing for a go-kart
- Performed preliminary CFD analysis on a wing profile to determine flow characteristics and performance in generating downforce for higher cornering speeds
