Mechanical Engineer
PERSONAL PROJECT: BLUETOOTH-CONTROLLED TURRET BLASTER
This project was a personal continuation of my capstone project and an exploration of technical skills that had been delegated to other team members, such as app programming and circuit design. In addition, without the confines of the course, I was able to set my own goals and deadlines.
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The basic premise of the project remained the same: to create a Nerf sentry turret that could be controlled remotely, carried around, and be fun to operate.
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The current working iteration and its basic features are summarized in the video below:
For me, the purposes of revisiting my senior capstone were to:
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Complete a fully self-guided project in a resource and time and resource-efficient manner
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Exercise and further develop mechanical design and programming skills
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Develop circuit design and soldering skills
Revisiting capstone project provided me a decent starting point, as much of the app and Arduino code was reusable. Despite not starting from scratch, I still had to familiarize myself with every aspect of the code. For the mechanical design and circuit design, I was starting from scratch.
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Key differences for this project were:
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Instead of taking an existing off-the-shelf Nerf blaster, taking it apart and butchering its components to permanently build around, I decided to design easily installed and removeable attachments for the blaster, making no changes to the original product.
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I removed the manual operation mode, which mechanical design, programming, and overall reliability
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I was responsible for the full electro-mechanical design stack; from CAD to 3D printing to app interface design to circuit soldering, and more.
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I did not have access to campus manufacturing facilities or makerspaces; I did, however, now own a personal 3D printer
Not being able to delegate tasks to others forced me to confront and fill gaps in my knowledge along the engineering process, leading me consult my friends and make mistakes. Admittedly, it took some courage to solder everything together for the first time. However, not delegating also greatly increased rate of iteration; if a design change would affect multiple components, I could immediately adjust and print everything on my own. In addition, I only needed to consider my own problem-solving stamina: I would stay up to early morning multiple times when facing a problem because I was “almost there”.
The current iteration works, but has many problems I am dissatisfied with, such as messy electronics box, a low rate of fire, an awkward latch bar, and more. Nevertheless, I am proud of the result, and look forward to further iterating upon it.