Turning the chess-robot gantry into a fast, reliable pen plotter (and accidental kitten magnet). Modeled a servo-lift pen head, added dual Y-axis steppers, and used Universal G-code Sender to draw on a whiteboard.

First electronics shakedown! Getting basic CNC functionality up and running.

First real post to the new website! Learning has occurred!

I found a broken Red Bull mini-fridge on the side of the road, dragged it home, and began resurrecting it. Early diagnosis points to a bad compressor relay.

Mechanical redesign and assembly of robot parts for the autonomous chessboard project. REAL HARDWARE!

Early CAD models and mechanical design exploration for the autonomous chessboard project. Building out the frame, end effector, and first printed parts.

Concept for a fully automated chessboard that can detect and move pieces using an XY gantry and sensors. The project combines mechanical design, embedded control, and maybe a bit of AI for game logic.

Designed and built a controllable blimp testbed for testing new soft-robotic propulsion technologies at BU’s Morphable Bio-Robotics Lab. Collaborated with George Knight to develop a motion-capture–guided control system and a bistable magnetic jet propulsion concept for lighter-than-air vehicles.

NASA Guided Parachute — Designed and tested a steerable parachute system to reduce the impact energy of failed drones over populated areas. Led a team of 12 engineering students at NASA Langley Research Center to prototype a controllable Rogallo-wing design capable of guided descent and soft landing.

Designed and built a bio-inspired soft robot capable of crawling using pneumatically actuated legs with anisotropic friction pads. Developed in Boston University’s Soft Robotics Lab to explore morphological computation and adaptable locomotion.