We built an RC Boat for ME218C - the third class in the mechatronics sequence. The boat's electronics, hardware, hull, powertrain were completely designed and built in 3 weeks. This project incorporated wireless communication using Xbee.

As you can see from the video, we took the competition a little too seriously! Our's is the speedy boat doing the bullying!

For the second Mechantronics class - ME218B - we build an autonomous basketball playing robot. The robot used sensors to detect pulsing IR light and features on the playing surface to navigate around the court. It used a PID-controlled flywheel that changed its speed based on the distance from the hoop to launch the balls. We incorporated a state-machine based control scheme for the robot.

Panasonic, which makes Li-ion batteries, wanted to explore EV concepts for future urban environments. We build a functional prototype of an EV for a single passenger, which folded to reduce its footprint for parking. It also featured a canopy style door that allowed the passenger to enter and exit very easily. We worked under the assumption that autonomous driving would be the norm, so elaborate controls like steering wheels and shift knobs were not part of the car's interior.

Every year, in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, college students gather to have their tiny rovers get shot up to 10,000 ft on rockets and dropped. The objective is to make it back to the earth in 1 piece and then navigate to a pre-determined co-ordinate using GPS. The aim of the exercise is to develop very cheap, robust rovers that can be deployed to planets like Mars. Our research group at Georgia Tech took part in this every year. I was part of the team for 2 years and worked on most of the mechanical design, parachute deployment, motors and wheels.

Over the last few years I have designed and made a few mechanical watches for myself. I am also a member of openmovement.org, an opensource watch movement design organization.

I wanted a Nest in my house, but it turns out the thermostat/heater style is my apartment is so old that the Nest can't be installed with it. It is literally a mechanical thermocouple that connects the lines to turn on the heater! So, I decided to make my own. I used an Arduino Yun (WiFi), a high-load relay, and a temperature sensor for the thermostat. The Arduino pushes & pulls the temperature data to 'ThingSpeak' a web service that has a very simple API to push and pull simple sensor data. The iPhone app also pushes set-point data to the ThingSpeak channel, which is read by the Arduino to turn the heater on/off based on set-point. So, I can control my heater from anywhere!

Being a mechanical engineer with a Master's degree, I felt obligated to make my own engagement ring. I sketched out concepts, carved the shape out of wax and had a friend investment cast it. After some sanding, polishing, and installation of a crown that held the diamond, the ring was complete! And, yes, she said yes!

Quadcoptors or 'Drones' as they are infamously called these days are extremely fun to design, build and fly. A couple of friends and I got pretty into quadcoptors a few years ago. I've designed and built a few frames and quadcoptors. I also have a prototype for a vibration damped gimbal for taking stabilized and motion compensated videos using a GoPro on one of my bigger frames.