To provide me with the ability to prototype various projects at home, I decided to acquire a 3D printer. While at the time there were several commercial versions available, I decided to take on the challenge of designing and building my own. This provided two benefits: complete control over all of the properties of the printer (size, print volume, cost, etc.) and an understanding of how each component functioned allowing me to troubleshoot and upgrade the design as needed.
Latest Projects
PROJECTS
Below is a list of several projects I have worked on over the past several years.
Click the headers to see to more detailed descriptions of each!
My senior design project focused on the development of an "energy harvester" that would create power through the use of large volumes of rainwater from gutter and drainage systems to drive a Francis-style turbine. I co-lead a team of 5 mechanical engineering students through the full cycle of development from initial concept, to design, to manufacture and finally testing.
GoPro Camera Gimbal for Quadcopter
My Master's thesis required high speed image capturing of surface water flows with a consistent and stable FOV - requiring low post processing and containing limited distortion - in order to provide low noise data/results. To accomplish this goal, a camera gimbal was design and manufactured to maintain a nearly perpendicular view with respect to the ground no matter the orientation of the Quadcopter during flight.
Portable Water Tunnel for Surface Flow Simulation
To aid in the study of surface water flows, a water tunnel with a variable flow speed and an adjustable slope was designed, built, and tested.
As part of my internship at Tomorrow Lab, a product development company in New York, NY, I was tasked with the modification of a underutilized Makerbot Thing-o-matic 3D printer to a CNC milling machine that could be used for routing PCB prototypes. This would assist with reducing the turnaround time between iterations of various product prototype being made in the office on a daily basis.
Quadcopter for Environmental Flow Observations
My Master's thesis focused on the development of a quadcopter for high speed image capturing to allow for the study of surface flows for the prediction of flooding and pollutant transport patterns. This information can be used in many fields including environmental conservation and city planning.
Obstacle Avoidance Device for the Blind/Visually Impaired
An obstacle avoidance device was developed for my graduate mechatronics class. I lead a team of 3 engineers to design a product that would allow those with limited eyesight to be more independent by notifying them of upcoming obstacles even at eye-level. The device utilized an ultrasonic sensor and an Arduino Micro microcontroller, and provided output to the user in the form of haptic feedback.