ABOUT ME
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My first introduction to truly making (beyond with toys) came in the form of video game mods. From fourth grade through eighth grade I created "add-ons" for "Blockland", a sandbox video game entirely dependent on the creativity of its community to make content. With no skills to begin with, I slowly taught myself 3D modeling, scripting and some basic UI design. Initially, my releases were low quality and harshly received by the community. Eventually, however, I improved and by middle school my add-ons became widely-used. I would log on to play Blockland and find people using my creations to play in ways they never could have before. By tinkering from my elementary school bedroom, I positively affected others across this community.
Growing up, I loved flight simulators. After years of online flying, I wanted to create a more involved and realistic experience. I started by building small switch boxes so that I could control gear and flaps without using my keyboard. Then, once I got my hands on the Developer’s Edition of the Oculus Rift in 10th grade, I set out to make the experience of virtual flight fully immersive; I wanted to feel the controls physically. So, with no real plan or training, I bought some wood, went to my garage and within two months I had built my first fully functional simpit. Enclosed on all but one side, I could sit in my cockpit and control nearly everything I needed by touch.
The summer before my junior year in high school, I started considering getting my pilot’s license seriously and decided to build a simulator that I could actually practice on—a full-scale replica of a Cessna 172. I wanted this simulator to be a one-to-one representation, so that when I looked for a control in VR and I could actually touch it in real life. This project gave me the opportunity to learn and use CAD. (After years of 3D modeling, it was easy to pick up and today I am a Certified Solidworks Professional.) I manufactured the necessary parts mainly using simple garage tools.
Beyond an accurate cockpit layout, I implemented force feedback in order to properly replicate the important information the pressure on the yoke gives a pilot. To do this, I ripped out the electronics from an old, low power force feedback joystick and modified them to work with more powerful speed controllers, motors and new potentiometers. I built the mechanical structure behind the yoke and used an actual Cessna yoke that I bought from eBay for the user (me) to interact with. Ultimately, I wrote the software systems necessary to allow all the switches and controls on the physical cockpit to control their virtual counterparts. As you can imagine, creating this project taught me things I still use today.
After gaining far more CAD experience and freshly trained on CNC mills and laser cutters, I set off to create an extremely accurate AV8B Harrier cockpit that could be fully manufactured out of acrylic and aluminum plates. I succeeded in designing the entire cockpit and building and testing the left hand console. Ultimately, I had to halt work on this project due to the large amount of manufacturing time and cost necessary to complete it.
In hiatus of the AV8B project and during the summer of my senior year in high school, I turned my attention to creating the Momentary/Toggle pedal inspired by my experience as a guitarist. I wanted to create an effects pedal that could be used as a momentary switch for rhythmic use or could be toggled like a conventional guitar pedal. Creating this allowed me to delve deeper into both electronics and CNC milling. I quickly became comfortable with basic (and some not-so-basic) analog electronics and the main body of the pedal required 11 CNC jobs to manufacture. I placed an extremely high focus on design and build quality with decorative plastic inlays. Ultimately I built two and gave one to the band Halestorm. To my knowledge, there is absolutely no similar product in existence to this pedal.
My adventure developing the pedal inspired me to dive far deeper into electronics. The result? The Auto Amp, which I began in high school and completed my freshman year of college. I set out to create a way to combine multiple guitar amplifiers in an automated system that allows the user to select and switch between preset amplifier settings. The result would allow guitarists to combine the sounds of multiple guitar heads and effects loops. Ultimately I designed and built a fully functional model. However, the methods I used to construct the device (veroboard and 200+ crimp connections) proved to be highly susceptible to mechanical failure and to be too unreliable to use live. Ultimately I will need to redesign it using PCBs.
During my third summer at MIT and prior to my sophomore year at Stanford, one of my CSAIL colleagues introduced me to a project of his—a novel device designed to aid in the opioid epidemic by building the equivalent of an AED box for Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal drug. He asked me to design the hardware for a version that could be tested on the streets of Boston. This project presented not only mechanical, manufacturing and structural challenges, but security and weatherproofing challenges, as well. Before I left Boston, I had designed the full assembly and manufactured nearly all parts. Back at Stanford, he hired me to design and test the electronics which is how I learned PCB design with EAGLE. While I succeeded in designing the electronics, the project was ultimately cancelled for reasons outside my control. I now have, with his permission, the remaining parts. But, without a realistic way to test or implement it, I am not currently focused on it.
Now a college junior, my most recent project and currently ongoing is the “Glove Watchman”. The impetus for this device came from ME103, a class where you design and manufacture a metal product. I wanted to solve a problem I had identified during my recent summer working as a wildland firefighter, chiefly the need for gloves to be taken on and off frequently without any means of securing them quickly.
While development is still underway, I have succeeded in making over seven plastic prototypes and five cast and machined prototypes. I have been gathering feedback from local structural firefighters and from fellow wildland firefighters I met this past summer to improve the product. I plan to further improve and test the product in industry.
Once Covid-19 hit I found myself thrust back at home. I used that time to finally complete the AV8B cockpit. Using the parts I had fabricated years earlier, basic carpentry tools and a 3D printer, I set out to finish the project. By the end of spring, I had successfully fulfilled the dream of a totally immersive cockpit I had yearned for as a high schooler. Beyond my previous simulators, this one spares no details and is built to last.
I have been designing and making for much of my life. The projects I have embarked upon vary widely in scale, purpose, and techniques; the list of those I’ve discussed above is far from exclusive. I don’t just like to make things; I like to make things that solve a problem and make a difference in realms I care about. Each problem I encounter presents the opportunity not only to solve it but to develop a new skill along the way.
Growing up, I loved flight simulators. After years of online flying, I wanted to create a more involved and realistic experience. I started by building small switch boxes so that I could control gear and flaps without using my keyboard. Then, once I got my hands on the Developer’s Edition of the Oculus Rift in 10th grade, I set out to make the experience of virtual flight fully immersive; I wanted to feel the controls physically. So, with no real plan or training, I bought some wood, went to my garage and within two months I had built my first fully functional simpit. Enclosed on all but one side, I could sit in my cockpit and control nearly everything I needed by touch.
The summer before my junior year in high school, I started considering getting my pilot’s license seriously and decided to build a simulator that I could actually practice on—a full-scale replica of a Cessna 172. I wanted this simulator to be a one-to-one representation, so that when I looked for a control in VR and I could actually touch it in real life. This project gave me the opportunity to learn and use CAD. (After years of 3D modeling, it was easy to pick up and today I am a Certified Solidworks Professional.) I manufactured the necessary parts mainly using simple garage tools.
Beyond an accurate cockpit layout, I implemented force feedback in order to properly replicate the important information the pressure on the yoke gives a pilot. To do this, I ripped out the electronics from an old, low power force feedback joystick and modified them to work with more powerful speed controllers, motors and new potentiometers. I built the mechanical structure behind the yoke and used an actual Cessna yoke that I bought from eBay for the user (me) to interact with. Ultimately, I wrote the software systems necessary to allow all the switches and controls on the physical cockpit to control their virtual counterparts. As you can imagine, creating this project taught me things I still use today.
After gaining far more CAD experience and freshly trained on CNC mills and laser cutters, I set off to create an extremely accurate AV8B Harrier cockpit that could be fully manufactured out of acrylic and aluminum plates. I succeeded in designing the entire cockpit and building and testing the left hand console. Ultimately, I had to halt work on this project due to the large amount of manufacturing time and cost necessary to complete it.
In hiatus of the AV8B project and during the summer of my senior year in high school, I turned my attention to creating the Momentary/Toggle pedal inspired by my experience as a guitarist. I wanted to create an effects pedal that could be used as a momentary switch for rhythmic use or could be toggled like a conventional guitar pedal. Creating this allowed me to delve deeper into both electronics and CNC milling. I quickly became comfortable with basic (and some not-so-basic) analog electronics and the main body of the pedal required 11 CNC jobs to manufacture. I placed an extremely high focus on design and build quality with decorative plastic inlays. Ultimately I built two and gave one to the band Halestorm. To my knowledge, there is absolutely no similar product in existence to this pedal.
My adventure developing the pedal inspired me to dive far deeper into electronics. The result? The Auto Amp, which I began in high school and completed my freshman year of college. I set out to create a way to combine multiple guitar amplifiers in an automated system that allows the user to select and switch between preset amplifier settings. The result would allow guitarists to combine the sounds of multiple guitar heads and effects loops. Ultimately I designed and built a fully functional model. However, the methods I used to construct the device (veroboard and 200+ crimp connections) proved to be highly susceptible to mechanical failure and to be too unreliable to use live. Ultimately I will need to redesign it using PCBs.
During my third summer at MIT and prior to my sophomore year at Stanford, one of my CSAIL colleagues introduced me to a project of his—a novel device designed to aid in the opioid epidemic by building the equivalent of an AED box for Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal drug. He asked me to design the hardware for a version that could be tested on the streets of Boston. This project presented not only mechanical, manufacturing and structural challenges, but security and weatherproofing challenges, as well. Before I left Boston, I had designed the full assembly and manufactured nearly all parts. Back at Stanford, he hired me to design and test the electronics which is how I learned PCB design with EAGLE. While I succeeded in designing the electronics, the project was ultimately cancelled for reasons outside my control. I now have, with his permission, the remaining parts. But, without a realistic way to test or implement it, I am not currently focused on it.
Now a college junior, my most recent project and currently ongoing is the “Glove Watchman”. The impetus for this device came from ME103, a class where you design and manufacture a metal product. I wanted to solve a problem I had identified during my recent summer working as a wildland firefighter, chiefly the need for gloves to be taken on and off frequently without any means of securing them quickly.
While development is still underway, I have succeeded in making over seven plastic prototypes and five cast and machined prototypes. I have been gathering feedback from local structural firefighters and from fellow wildland firefighters I met this past summer to improve the product. I plan to further improve and test the product in industry.
Once Covid-19 hit I found myself thrust back at home. I used that time to finally complete the AV8B cockpit. Using the parts I had fabricated years earlier, basic carpentry tools and a 3D printer, I set out to finish the project. By the end of spring, I had successfully fulfilled the dream of a totally immersive cockpit I had yearned for as a high schooler. Beyond my previous simulators, this one spares no details and is built to last.
I have been designing and making for much of my life. The projects I have embarked upon vary widely in scale, purpose, and techniques; the list of those I’ve discussed above is far from exclusive. I don’t just like to make things; I like to make things that solve a problem and make a difference in realms I care about. Each problem I encounter presents the opportunity not only to solve it but to develop a new skill along the way.