One of the projects I contributed to at the NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was integration of the X-ray diffraction instrument, CheMin, for assembly into the MSL Rover. Along with overseeing its assembly, I had the privilege of redesigning some of its parts.
One of the parts I redesigned was the piezo actuated inlet funnel, which made the final flight assembly and was photographed from the surface of Mars. That photo is shown here.
In that pursuit of miniaturization and automation of blood testing while at Theranos, I had the chance to create a number of designs that went on to receive patents.
Shown here are three stages in the evolution of one of those devices, a centrifuge no taller than a deck of playing cards.
Images courtesy of google patents.
The summary of a year-long project through Stanford's ME310 course and sponsored by Audi. Our final deliverable was an entire system integrated into an Audi Q5 that enabled the driver to interact with the vehicle by making gestures anywhere on the steering wheel rim.
The project was a team effort with eight grad students: four from Stanford's mechanical engineering grad program and four from TKK in Helsinki, Finland.
One of my responsibilities was design and construction of the steering wheel rim's capacitive sensor array. This included taking it from CAD to initial prototype through acid etching polyamide film copper clad, to final production with screen printing conductive ink, to stitching up the leather. Some of these processes are shown here.
Steering wheel demo video
Exploded view: a custom designed capacitive grid and pressure sensitive film for squeeze activation was installed under the leather
Photo of screen-printed capacitive grid adhered and wire intricately routed prior to lacing the leather
Final capacitve grid pattern, a two-sided screenprint of conductive ink on to plastic film
After an initial pattern design and construction from acid etching onto copper clad polyamide film, an improved design was readied for screenprinting
Led the design from the original concept (shown in top image) through to the 3rd generation model and passing design lead off internally for the 4th generation.
A project from my work at the Stanford BioRobotics Lab; the premise was to design a platform for use in studying the cochlea of a guinea pig under a microscope endoscope that allowed both coarse and fine rotation and translation.
This setup is unique in that it allows for large coarse rotation and incredibly precise fine rotation about a single common point, in this case the tip of the microscope endoscope. The removable guinea pig bed on the right mounts to the base on the left when reassembled.
Second and final design of a mini Revolights bicycle for in-store demonstration of the lights.
Originally taking the path of an actual spinning set of wheels, the final direction was a much simplified, rechargeable digital display mimicking motion using a simple animated pattern on a custom array of LEDs.
The frame parts were 3D printed, wheels & power circuit hand-soldered and aluminum backing CNC routed so the full assembly could be done in the office for a small initial quantity.
Final version (motion simulated)
First design of a mini Revolights bicycle for in-store demonstration of the lights.
This original design used an actual set of spinning Revolights. The small PCB "wheels" have the full Revolights circuit and programming. Power is transferred to the ring through a custom slip-ring design using small DC motor graphite brushes in a 3D printed mount.
The frame parts were 3D printed, wheels & power circuit hand-soldered and aluminum backing was CNC rounted then hand bent so the fully assembly could be done in the office for the a small initial quantity.
Custom design gang programmer, soldering and testing fixture. Designed to drive down the assembly cost of Revolights.
Also designed for low cost build. All plastic parts are 3D printed and the custom heat-resistant top is designed using only simple slots so it can be manually milled.
