Class Projects

Below is some extra information about the two biggest project-based classes that we had to take as engineering students.

Engineering Capstone Project

For my Senior Design Project, I am working alongside a team of engineering students to design an R&D product for a Denver based startup, Ahead Wind.

Our goal is to make one of the most sensor-rich FDM 3D-printers in existence. Ahead Wind believes that the lack of machine feedback is one of the primary reasons that this technology is still being used primarily for prototyping and has not crossed the threshold into end-use manufacturing.

Our team is modifying an existing printer by outfitting it with an assortment of sensors that aren’t commonly found on these machines, building out a g-code sender that incorporates the data we are taking in, and building out a data aggregation and analysis toolset so that the operator understands what is happening during and after the print.

Click here to see the latest Progress Update that we have submitted.

Integration - Junior Year

We had a pretty fun project for this class: designing a robot that autonomously navigates stairwells and hallways utilizing indoor GPS nodes and on board sensors. My team consisted of 5 mechanical engineers apart from myself, so my contributions were focused on implementing all of the robot's hardware and software. I used a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino to control drive motors, articulation motors (to press an elevator button), receive input from sensors and cameras, and provide a remote control interface from a computer. Additionally, I designed electronic safeguards to prevent damage to the hardware under motor stalling and utilized sensors and and a camera on the robot to implement obstacle avoidance while the robot was traversing the building.