I am a computer engineering undergraduate student at Oregon State University. My focus is on embedded systems and robotics. What I hope to get from my degree is an understanding of how electrical/computer systems so that I am able to design and/or test such systems in industry. Ideally, I will be able to work on a mix of hardware and software engineering problems in embedded systems.
Throughout my coursework and extracurricular activities, I have greatly enjoyed optimizing software algorithms, RTL design using SystemVerilog, progamming microcontrollers in C or assembly, and, more generally, participating in group projects. I find writing efficient code to solve a specific problem to be very satisfying as it is similar to solving a challenging puzzle. RTL design using SystemVerilog allows me to program an FPGA in a somewhat short amount of time. This is very powerful as I can perform complex calculations quickly by utilizing the parallel nature of FPGAs. I I enjoy group projects as they offer a unique experience where I can contribute a complex system according to my personal strengths and produce a product that no one group member could produce on their own.
An example of such a project would be my Junior Design which I am currently working on. The goal of this project is to create a two-axis robotic arm capable of drawing on sheet of paper. This system uses computer vision to convert an image captured via a webcam into lines that the arm can draw and computes the required joint angles to move the writing utensil to the correct positions on an FPGA. For this project I was responsible for creating a graphical user interface and driving the motors which adjust the angle of the joints on the arm. We are currently in the final steps of system integration for this project.
Another project I am currently working on is a power supply board for OSU Robotics Club’s Underwater ROV. This board steps down the supply voltage for use in other parts of the ROV. The board includes current sensing/limiting features and was designed to attend to thermal considerations. We are currently in the assembly and testing phase for this board.
