Portfolio

These small robots were designed to be a much smaller replacement for robots that are typically used to teach the ROS (Robotic Operating System). This compact form factor allows educators to develop multi-robot systems that can fit on a desktop, removing the burden of having to arrange a classroom specifically for teaching robotics concepts. A detailed set of logs regarding the development of these robots can be found here and some further details here.

The clock ring is an exercise in low power electronics as well as designing under extreme space restrictions. The ring consists of a flexible PCB, populated with LEDs forming a 7-segment based display. The time is maintained by a microcontoller and the user activates the display with a gesture captured by an extremely low power accelerator. The current design uses replaceable batteries and has a run time of around 5 months. The upcoming version will be solar powered, thus reducing the space required for batteries and allowing the ring to be used indefinitely.

This was a project designed to automate a nano-chemistry experiment. It lowers the substrate into a number of prearranged test tubes filled with reagent. Repetitive sequences of dipping form layered structures on the substrate. These structures were the subject of the research. This work was conducted as contract work on behalf of the PaCE (Polymer and Composite Engineering) group at Imperial College London. An example of work carried out using this machine can be seen here.

This is an extension of the micro robots project. These robots use similar components to the micro robots, though in a larger format, this makes the project suitable to solder with students. Added to the functionality is a powerful front bumper driven by dual solenoids. The robots use high quality battery to be able to deliver the 200W+ power spikes for the front bumper.

This was a project carried out as a contract for PaCE (Polymer and Composite Engineering) Lab at Imperial College London, in collaboration with Jack Ashley. PaCE wanted a machine that could transfer carbon fibre tow from one reel to another. The tension of the tow needed to be controllable and the machine needed to neatly re-reel regardless of how untidy the input reel was. This required a real time feedback loop based on computer vision to correct for abnormalities. The whole rig was constrained in it’s form factor as it needed to fit entirely inside an enclosure they were using to ablate the tow with a high power laser.

This is a 3D printer that prints directly from granules. It was constructed as a contract job, tying together work done by others to be a productive prototyping machine. I am particularly proud of the fact that this project was completed in a very tight time frame for the client, allowing them complete their work for a critical deadline.

I have constructed many speakers over the years for different purposes. The shown images are just a small subset. These include speakers that collapse down to half their volume, wooden spherical speakers, extra small subwoofers and many more.

One of my earliest projects was to construct a XY gantry for an artist. The machine was used to make marks on the work piece based on data collected automatically by analysing how broken websites are connected together. The aim was to visualise the graveyard of the web.

An area of much great interest for me is designing strange 3D printers. I was an early adopters of the reprap style designs and have remixed them to fit our customers needs. I have build 5 axis 3D printers, SLA 3D printers, high speed 3D printers. Also see the Direct from granules elastomer 3D printer.