Research Projects
I have always been fascinated by science, but in particular, applied science and engineering projects. I am grateful that the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair has given me the opportunity to share my passion for engineering research at the local, state and international levels!
Problem: Wheeled robotics research and commercial application development is inhibited by the lack of a powerful, durable, and accessible robotics platform that can operate omni-directionally in constrained spaces.
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Solution: A differentially-geared robotics platform that combines the strengths of three traditional wheeled chassis (tank, mecanum, and swerve) while eliminating their weaknesses. This platform includes custom software with autonomous, 3rd-derivative jerk-limited navigation. It is built using off-the-shelf and easy-to-manufacture parts, which increases usefulness and attainability.
Project Awards:
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Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF 2023)
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Grand Award in the Robotics and Intelligent Machines Category
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Special Award (First Place) from the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)
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Finalist in the Robotics and Intelligent Machines Category
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California Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF 2023)
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Second Place Award in the Applied Mechanics and Structures Category
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Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF 2023)
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Grand Award in the Physical Sciences in the Senior Division
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First Place Award in the Engineering: Electrical, Mechanical and Robotics Category
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Special Award from the AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association)
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Existing wheeled chassis fall into three categories: tank, mecanum, and swerve. Although tank drives are simple and take full advantage of available motor power, they lack lateral maneuverability. Mecanum drives are omnidirectional, but they have a non-uniform, direction-dependent power profile and only work well on soft, uniform surfaces. Swerve drives have a uniform power profile, move omnidirectionally, and work on many surfaces, but traditional implementations inefficiently use one motor to power module rotation and another to power wheel rotation making them unnecessarily heavy and expensive for their torque, acceleration, and power output.
My novel design uses both motors and a differential gear to power wheel rotation as well as module rotation making it either 50% lighter than traditional swerves with the same power output or doubling the power output of traditional swerves of the same weight.
Two of these differentially-geared wheel modules were combined to create a functional robot chassis that was packaged with a versatile software platform enabling both human and autonomous control. The built-in localization and navigation software is powered by an easy-to-use, jerk-limited control system that enables research and commercial engineers to get accurate and autonomous navigation to waypoints using just a single line of code.
This platform could be used in a wide variety of research, commercial, and industrial applications. Its maneuverability makes it ideal for operation in constrained spaces like warehouses and hospitals. For example, it could deliver food and medicine to highly contagious patients where human contact must be minimized. Its ability to travel across a wide variety of surfaces means that it is also well suited to most home and office environments where it could deliver food, beverages and other supplies or provide routine cleaning and maintenance services. Its high power and durability along with its maneuverability also make it ideal for industrial applications such as transporting items around factories. The platform’s versatility, usability, and accessibility also make it ideal for research and educational institutions to use their imaginations to quickly prototype new robotics applications and realize their dreams!
Superconductivity is a promising technology that has the potential to offer frictionless, low energy transport. Since any transportation system requires an effective mechanism to speed up and slow down vehicles, my engineering project explored various designs to accelerate and decelerate a quantum-locked superconductor without making physical contact.
In this middle school project, I answered the question: “How can magnets best be used to manipulate the speed of a quantum-locked superconductor that is traveling along a magnetic track to improve upon current transportation solutions?”
Project Awards:​​
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Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF 2020)
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Grand Award in Physical Sciences in the Junior Division
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First Place Award in Engineering: Energy and Transport Category
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Special Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
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Special Award from the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA)
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Special Award from the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation. The Advanced Materials Award.
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Special Award from the Professional Engineers in California Government
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Special Award from the San Diego Science Educators Association
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California Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF 2020) Qualified Entrant (Cancelled due to COVID-19)
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Broadcom Masters 2020 Qualified Entrant (Modified due to COVID-19)
My experiment required the construction of a neodymium magnetic track with a linearly homogenous magnetic field. The YBCO (Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide) superconductor, representing a vehicle, would then be supercooled with liquid nitrogen and quantum-locked into a levitating position above the track through what is called the "flux pinning" effect.
My challenge was to discover the best way to accelerate and decelerate the "vehicle" that was frictionlessly traveling down the track without physically touching it. Using a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit and several different mechanisms I designed with additional neodymium magnets, I was able to prove it was possible to accelerate and decelerate a quantum locked superconductor travelling along a magnetic track without physically touching it.