Aesthetics Project Reflections As previously mentioned, this project really started out as an aesthetics challenge: how can I make something that inherently has many wires, motors, rods, and fasteners look like it belongs in a living room? This was the first project that I’ve ever done which focused more on aesthetics than pure functionality, and…

This update is pretty quick, as I’ve been swamped with all of my other classes. I’m putting the whole thing together this weekend (hopefully), and just have a few more parts to make sure will work together before I can be ready for expo. I’m certainly not going to be ready to demonstrate a functional…

As I’ve started ordering parts and designing my project, I’ve identified the following constraints that I’ll need to work within over the rest of the project: Time – time is ticking, and I’m very cognizant of my limited time resources as the semester winds down. I’m planning on spending several days over spring break working…

Introduction Over the next few weeks, I will be designing* and constructing a 3D printer, focusing on an aesthetic which will fit in my living room or even kitchen. So many home-built 3D printers and printer kits are bare skeletons of extruded aluminum and rods, with tangles of wire harnesses and exposed components. While this is typically the…

This post will be brief and not cohesive because I’m not yet sure what my project will be! I have a few ideas that I’m not thrilled about, and am kind of worried about the time that some of these projects would demand. Regardless, here are my thoughts: Robotics and control: I’d like to do…

As a second semester senior, I’m hoping to stay afloat. In all seriousness, the past couple of weeks have been very difficult with balancing school (predominantly senior design and advanced product design) and part-time work (I intern at LASP), in addition to trying to be a functional human being. It’s been difficult to be exposed to…

Thanks for checking out my brief credentials to work on your team. I’m a senior studying Mechanical Engineering (like teammate Ethan) and pursuing a Master’s degree concurrently with an emphasis on design. I have considerable experience with mechanical design and enjoy elegantly solving complex problems. See below for a semi-detailed skill-set: CAD Modeling: 1000+ hours…

We drew a pretty traditional design loop, as we’ve seen in several of our engineering classes. Each phase connects to each other, because the loop is very iterative and can start anywhere.

I came across a whole bunch of packing peanuts, which I thought would be a really cool medium for this first project. Even better, I learned that they can be “glued” to each other using only water! If the packing peanut is the type made out of corn starch, they ordinarily dissolve in water (probably…