It all started with a dusty Elegoo Arduino Uno R3 kit and a 3D printer acting up. I needed test prints… and somehow ended up building Project R, a hilariously grumpy mini companion bot.

R has eyes—an ultrasonic sensor mounted on a 9g servo that lets it scan the room like a curious little neck-turning owl. Its left arm is powered by a servo, and the right one flexes with a tiny stepper motor. On its chest? An 8x8 LED matrix that adds extra flair to its reactions.

R isn’t just a bundle of wires and plastic. It feels. It sees. It judges. Touch it without consent, and it’ll throw a fit. Stand in front of it, and you’ll get one of its 130 factorial possible reactions (okay… maybe not that many, but close enough).

Born from leftovers and printer tests—now a full-blown diva on my desk.

As part of an individual project for an engineering design course, an Omni wheel was designed and constructed for a football-playing robot. Computer-aided design (CAD) software was utilized to create a highly precise 3D model of the wheel. Subsequently, the Omni wheel was manufactured utilizing manual lathe machine turning operations, ensuring a highly accurate and precise production process.

As the team leader for a national level engineering design competition, a bridge was constructed using ice cream sticks and white glue, employing principles of statics. Cross trusses with interlocking joints were utilized to enhance the bridge's stability. The competition was won, as our bridge exhibited the highest load-bearing capacity to bridge weight ratio.

As a self-proclaimed 3D printing enthusiast, I've dabbled in fused deposition modelling for both professional and personal projects. From rapid prototyping to creating functional parts, 3D printing has been employed in various capacities, not only for its practical applications but also for the pure enjoyment of the process. 

The design and fabrication of a floating micro-hydel cross-flow turbine was completed as part of an undergraduate fluid mechanics semester project. Using PVC pipes, polystyrene, and wood, the team used university rain gutter specifications to produce a functional prototype. The project demonstrated the practical application of theoretical concepts.

As part of a basic electronics semester project, a water level detector circuit was designed and implemented. The circuit utilized the principle of conductivity, with two metal probes placed in a tank to detect water levels and trigger an alarm when a threshold was reached. The circuit was tested using simulated water levels and proved to be highly accurate and reliable, ensuring that no more overflowing tanks would go unnoticed. 

As part of a semester-long project in basic mechatronics, light-dependent resistors (LDR) were used to design and set up an intruder alarm. The circuit was tested using breadboards, and once the design was finalized, a circuit diagram was developed. Printed circuit boards were created using chemical etching, and the components were soldered to the board to create a fully functioning standalone intruder alarm. The circuit functioned based on the principle of LDRs detecting changes in ambient light. When an intruder enters a room, the circuit detects a change in light, and the alarm is triggered.