Over the course of Fall semester of 2019 at USC, along with classmates Nathan and Hanule, we have built a Salad Kiosk Dispenser for the Mechatronics Systems course final project. This system utilizes five servo motors to dispense vegetables and salad dressing, load cell to detect the weight for a feedback loop and a 1Sheeld module on Arduino UNO for voice recognition and barcode scanning features.

As a project leader I was responsible for making sure our efforts are aligned and coordinated to meet milestones and deadlines. And conduct weekly meeting and facilitate the discussion should any issues rise during the production. My role in this project was to develop the mechanical design and assembly from the design phase to realization. In addition to that, the integration of the electrical components with the gate mechanism and scale for feedback loop.

In the Spring of 2018, as part of the final project for the CAD for Mechanical Systems course at USC, Karthic, Jing, Yichen, and I investigated the deflection and stresses of a highly repeatable centrifugal governor using FEA analysis in Solidworks Cosmos. The goal was to limit the axial deflection to 2.5 mm and maintain the fundamental natural frequency under 2100 Hz while the governor is operating at 7000 rad/s. Given was the material type and the dimension of the governor with five dimensional parameters to vary independently. The result was an optimization of a governor with ideal dimensions with least axial deflection and stresses. Moreover, the locations of stresses and deformation were located and the values were plotted against the angular velocity. My role was to run the FEA analysis repeatedly to investigate the changes, relationships of the dimensional variables to the parameters, and effects resulting from varying each parameter.

As part of the Material Selection course at USC, throughout Fall semester of 2017, I have conducted a research to investigate and select the most suitable material for candle votive stand that was recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The stand has been reported to catch on fire on 6 occasions. My goal was to methodologically find the material that met certain criteria and assumptions to eliminate this issue to occur in the future. Beside other criteria my main objectives were to reduce the cost and thermal conductivity while increase service temperature. After investigation using Edupack CES database, the results were concluded to Potash Soda Zinc, a material in the glass family. The material has better max service temperature of 363.5 C from 265 C, while decreased cost of 25% compared to the original material. In addition, processing methods for this material and part were also considered. A suggestion has been made to utilize glass sheets with abrasive water jet for cutting.

For the senior project of my undergraduate degree in Mechnical Engineering at CSUF, Abdullaziz, Abdulsahib, Helen, and I have developed a lower limb wearable device that can help restore the natural walking gate. From January to May of 2017 the team worked rigorously with Dr. Robson and Dr. Ghosh to design and prototype an Exo-skeleton based on a given dimensions of a one DOF muilt-loop 6 bar mechanical linkage. This wearable passive device aims for restoration of mobility following injuries such as fractures, strokes, and spinal cord. From early phases in CAD design to the scaled down 3D printed version to the final product, detailed attention was paid to dimensional accuracy against raw data to insure alignment with research of the walking trajectory. The results found were 6.93% error in stride length in the trajectory of the device compared to the natural walking gate trajectory.

As a project leader, I have headed communications with our advisors, assigned roles and tasks to teammates, and developed plans and future directions for the project. My role varies but mainly focused on developing the mechanical design, integrate the knee brace and the cast shoe, and validate and test the mechanism to insure alignment with given linkage data.

One of my favorite courses during my undergrad was the machine shop course. In Spring semester of 2017 I was exposed to machine shop equipment such as CNC milling and lathe. In this hands-on experience I was able to realize and appreciate the precision and craftsmanship needed to create truly spectacular parts. I learned about Dimensional Tolerance, G-code, and working principals of the CNC machines. For my final project, along with 2 other team members Abdullaziz and Hamad, we were able to machine a 1 inch floating dice made out of Aluminum 6061. All the edges were chamfered and the corner where the chamfered edges met had a beautiful tetrahedral shape. On each of its 6 faces we engraved Arabic Numerals instead the conventional dents. The finished product was inspected for dimension and finish. All in all, this project was a great introduction to CNC and a hands-on experience.