Projects
I have been involved in a variety of projects. My favorites are PantryBot, the major project I worked on as part of my master's degree, and DangerWeapon, an extracurricular project that allowed me to contribute my skills to a fun, immersive experience. I try to bring creativity and quality to every project, whether big or small. Below you can find a list of the projects I have worked on.
Professional Projects
MTD Products (Cub Cadet brand) |
April 2019 - October 2019 |
XT1 LT42e and CC 30 e Electric Rider
The XT1 LT42e and CC 30 e Electric Rider are Cub Cadet's first electric ride-on mowers for residential use. While they are essentially clones of already-existing gas-powered models, converting them to electric power presented numerous challenges, especially in the area of EMC, since electric vehicles of any kind are often subject to stricter standards than their gas-powered equivalents. I was in charge of analyzing the system to identify sources of noise and mitigate the problems so the mowers could pass their EMC tests. I was also involved in a redesign of the custom batteries after I traced a significant noise problem to the battery control board.
Infinicut
The Infinicut series of mowers is a collection of professional mowers meant for precisely grooming turf fields for sports like soccer as well as golf courses. It is entirely battery-powered, and it was my responsibility to analyze them for electromagnetic emissions and immunity. In addition to bringing these devices into EMC compliance, I also had to design an in-house platform for testing susceptibility to static electricity, making adjustments to the system as necessary so it could pass those tests as well.
RGX (discontinued)
The most interesting product I worked on at Modern Device was the RGX, a next-generation fully autonomous greens mower. It was built in-house from the ground up, and it used a variety of wireless communication protocols, which made testing it for EMC compliance an interesting challenge. Unfortunately, MTD discontinued its autonomous mowers in February of 2020.
Discovery Robotics - FX250 |
April 2016 - July 2018 |
The FX250 is a groundbreaking development in autonomous industrial floor cleaning. Capable of running for a full 8-hour shift on a single charge, the FX250 features a patented interchangeable tool system that allows a single unit to perform multiple cleaning tasks with only minimal effort from the user. The FX250 also has an incredibly accurate localization system that allows it to find its way around a known space with enough precision to ensure that the entire floor will be cleaned. As the lead electrical engineer, I was in charge of designing, developing, testing, and debugging all electrical subsystems and ensuring they performed at levels required for international standards compliance.
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Internships
4moms® |
June 2015 - August 2015 |
The specific details of what I did are confidential, but I can describe the general nature of the work. I built an I2C I/O expander around an Atmel AVR microcontroller. The controller had to draw minimal power while still being able to respond to a variety of sensor inputs. For some of the inputs, I tested multiple sensors and analyzed the resulting data to determine the best solution. And I designed an I2C protocol for sharing data between my I/O expander and a master microcontroller within the same product. I also did PCB design for a car seat project. For more information about the company, click the logo to the right.
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Special Projects
DangerWeapon |
Fall 2012 - Summer 2014 |
The DangerWeapon is a theatrical prop modeled after the stereotypical doomsday weapons popularized in Hollywood B-movies. It was created as part of DangerWalk, an annual event run by Technology House, a program house at Brown University, of which I was a member for two and a half years. DangerWalk immerses participants in a series of dramatic scenarios. The two pieces of the DangerWeapon interacted with users through elements that included a glowing “reactor core,” card key access, and, of course, a big red button. For more information, click here.
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ScoreSeeker |
Summer 2014 - Fall 2014 |
Schematic
Board layout Final enclosure The ScoreSeeker is a product I conceptualized and designed to fit within the specific enclosure of a RateSeeker. It is a wireless score and game time tracker capable of transmitting scores directly from a field to tournament headquarters. It was inspired by my time spent refereeing the sport of quidditch, for which it was originally intended to be used. The board was slated to be prototyped by Modern Device, and the initial version of the software has been completed. At its core, the ScoreSeeker is an Arduino clone. It has two pushbuttons and a rotary encoder that also has pushbutton functionality. It also includes an RTC chip for tracking game time and an XBee module for wireless communication. Scores and game time are displayed on a 4x16 character LCD display. |
Carnegie Mellon University
PantryBot |
September 2014 - May 2015 |
PantryBot was a group project during the first two semesters of the MRSD program. I worked with four fellow students to conceptualize, design, build, and test an assistive robot that would help elderly and disabled people with the tasks of storing groceries in, and retrieving groceries from, a pantry. I was involved in nearly every aspect of the project, and my main focus was on the electrical subsystems. I designed every circuit and PCB in the robot and wrote a significant portion of the code running on the two Arduinos within the robot. For more information, click here.
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RemindArm
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March 2015 - May 2015 |
Schematic
OSH Park PCB Rendering (front) OSH Park PCB Rendering (back) RemindArm was a rudimentary prototype that a partner and I developed for a soft robotics course. We were attempting to develop a unique personal reminder device that would be difficult for the user to ignore, but be unnoticeable by others, even when active. Our design consisted of an elastic band with an embedded micropump and air bladder worn around the upper arm. Inflating the bladder would cause the wearer to feel a squeeze on the arm, ideally without making perceptible noise. RemindArm required an electronics module, which I was responsible for designing. Because it was supposed to be a portable device, I started with a rechargeable battery and the appropriate circuitry for charging it from a USB cable. We wanted the prototype to work with a smartphone, so I included a Bluetooth breakout board for wireless communication. Received commands were processed by an ATtiny44A, which controlled the Bartels Mikrotechnik pump by sending PWM signals to a specialized PCB-mount pump controller. |
Modern Device
LED Lamp |
Summer 2014 |
Schematic
The LED Lamp is a Modern Device product currently under development. It is an aesthetically interesting piece specifically designed to look "cool." The purpose of the product is to serve as a mount point and heat sink for two to three 1-watt white LEDs. It was designed to work with the LED Dimmer. The LED Lamp contains three mount points in series with an optional solder jumper that shorts out the third set of pads to allow for operation with only two LEDS. The design includes a large number of holes, the size of which were precisely calculated to maximize heat absorption by the board without sacrificing total surface area. |
LED Dimmer |
Summer 2014 |
Schematic
The LED Dimmer is also a Modern Device product that is currently under development. It uses a potentiometer to control the brightness of attached LEDs. It was designed to work with the LED Lamp. I designed the original version; it has since been updated and the design has been modified. The original board used a resistor bridge to control a MOSFET that, in turn, controlled the voltage at a terminal block into which LEDs could be wired. The new version uses a shunt regulator in place of the resistor bridge. The LED dimmer is powered by a standard wall adapter with a barrel plug. |
Pressure Plug |
Summer 2014 |
Schematic
The Pressure Plug is a JeeLabs product originally designed by someone; however, the chip it used was discontinued, and I was tasked with finding a replacement and redesigning the plug around the new chip. I selected the STMicroelectronics LPS331AP, which measures atmospheric pressure and outputs the result using the I2C protocol. |
Current Sensor Demo |
Spring 2014 |
Product page
The current sensor demo is a rig I built and programmed to allow the capabilities of the Modern Device Current Sensor to be demonstrated easily for convention displays. The rig consists of a Modern Device Current Sensor, an RBBB Pro, and a 2x16 character LCD display for output. When the Current Sensor is placed against a cord carrying current, it sends a signal to the RBBB Pro. This translates the analog voltage to a current value which is displayed on the LCD. |
Brown University
Power Glove |
Fall 2011 - Spring 2012 |
The Power Glove was a group project in Embedded Microprocessor Design, the capstone course for my Computer Engineering degree program at Brown University. The project goal was to design a prototype for a commercial product that involved a microprocessor. Our group designed an alternative pointing device that moved a cursor on a computer screen by tracking motion using the computer’s built-in webcam. Mouse clicks were achieved by pressing fingers against the thumb.
The Power Glove consisted of a small module that attached to the wrist containing the microprocessor and wireless radio. The module was connected to a blue glove. The glove color was important because the motion tracking algorithm used color recognition. The fingertips were made of conductive fabric that allowed the tapping of fingers to the thumb to send signals to the processor through an A-to-D converter. A full report on this project can be downloaded by clicking on the document icon to the right. |