MEAM 5100 · Design of Mechatronic Systems
Designing Mechatronic Systems
Covered fundamentals of mechatronic systems through a series of lab assignments and a final team project.
Period
Jan – May 2025
Tags
Arduino · Mechatronics · Rapid Prototyping
Highlights
- 01Created a Waldo system which was inspired from the movement and structure of a komodo dragon
- 02Designed the robot car for the team for the final battle and team project.
- 03Robot car had autonomous obstacle avoidance with secure Wi-Fi-based teleoperation
- 04Five design iterations across four weeks with a three-person team
- 052nd place in the competitive robot battle arena
Modules & Architecture
Module 1: Phototransistor as a sensor▼
Used a phototransistor to turn on and off an LED
Module 2: Waldo System▼
Designed a WALDO system inspired from the structure and movement of a komodo dragon.
Module 3: Teleoperation over Wi-Fi using Potentiometer▼
Used Potentiometer to control my partner's RPM and direction of motion which is communicated over Wifi.
Module 4: Battle Ready Car ▼
Designed a robust robotic vehicle with autonomous obstacle avoidance and secure Wi-Fi teleoperation. 2nd place in the competitive robot battle arena.
Write-up
This course was my hands-on introduction to building mechatronic systems from the ground up. I spent the semester moving from basic sensor integration to building full-scale, remote-controlled robots, focusing on getting hardware and software to talk to each other reliably.
The highlight was definitely the final battle arena project. My team built a custom robot car featuring autonomous obstacle avoidance and a secure Wi-Fi teleoperation system. We went through five different design iterations in just four weeks to make sure the car was fast, responsive, and durable enough to handle the competition—we were really happy to walk away with 2nd place.
I also enjoyed the creative side of the labs, like the Waldo project where I tried to replicate the movement of a Komodo dragon using servo motors and potentiometers. It was a great challenge in translating biology into mechanical design and learning how to prototype quickly when things don't go as planned.
Links